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7. Organic chemistry
7.1
Crude oil, hydrocarbons and alkanes
What crude oil is and how it formed, what hydrocarbons are, the alkanes as a homologous series with the general formula CnH2n+2, and the names, formulae and displayed formulae of the first four alkanes.
AQA
Edexcel
OCR
6 questions
7.2
Fractional distillation of crude oil
How crude oil is separated into fractions by fractional distillation, how the temperature gradient in the column separates hydrocarbons by boiling point, and the uses of the fractions as fuels and feedstock.
AQA
Edexcel
OCR
5 questions
7.3
Properties and combustion of hydrocarbons
How boiling point, viscosity and flammability change with the chain length of hydrocarbons, how this affects their use as fuels, and the complete combustion of hydrocarbons with balanced equations.
AQA
Edexcel
OCR
5 questions
7.4
Cracking and alkenes
How long-chain hydrocarbons are cracked into shorter, more useful alkanes and alkenes by catalytic and steam cracking, why cracking is needed to match supply and demand, balancing cracking equations, and the bromine water test for alkenes.
AQA
Edexcel
OCR
5 questions
7.5
Hydrogen versus petrol as a fuel
The advantages and disadvantages of using hydrogen rather than petrol as a fuel for cars, including the products of combustion, how hydrogen is produced and stored, and the availability of each fuel.
Edexcel
5 questions
7.6
Alkenes and their reactions
The alkenes as unsaturated hydrocarbons with a C=C double bond and the general formula CnH2n, the first four alkenes, their addition reactions with hydrogen, water and halogens, the bromine water test and their combustion.
Separate only
AQA
Edexcel
OCR
6 questions
7.7
Alcohols
The -OH functional group, the names and formulae of methanol to butanol, the properties, reactions and uses of alcohols, and making ethanol by fermentation and concentrating it by fractional distillation.
Separate only
AQA
Edexcel
OCR
6 questions
7.8
Core practical: combustion of alcohols
Edexcel core practical: burning ethanol, propanol, butanol and pentanol in spirit burners to heat water, measuring the temperature rise and mass of fuel burned, and comparing the energy released per gram.
Separate only
Edexcel
5 questions
7.9
Carboxylic acids and esters
The -COOH functional group, the names and formulae of methanoic to butanoic acid, their reactions with carbonates and metals, why they are weak acids, and how esters such as ethyl ethanoate are made and used.
Separate only
AQA
Edexcel
OCR
5 questions
7.10
Addition polymerisation
How alkene monomers join by addition polymerisation, how to draw the repeating unit of a polymer and work out the monomer from it, and how the uses of common addition polymers depend on their properties.
Separate only
AQA
Edexcel
OCR
5 questions
7.11
Problems with polymers and recycling
The problems caused by the use and disposal of polymers, including the finite supply of crude oil, persistence in landfill and gases from burning, and the advantages and disadvantages of recycling polymers.
Separate only
Edexcel
5 questions
7.12
Condensation polymers
How condensation polymers form from monomers with two functional groups, losing a small molecule such as water at each link, how polyesters are made from a diol and a dicarboxylic acid, and how this differs from addition polymerisation.
Higher only
Separate only
AQA
Edexcel
OCR
5 questions
7.13
Natural polymers: proteins, DNA, starch and cellulose
How amino acids join by condensation polymerisation to form proteins, the structure of DNA as two polymer chains of nucleotides in a double helix with four bases, and how starch and cellulose are polymers of glucose.
Separate only
AQA
Edexcel
OCR
5 questions