Ei elimination in organic chemistry

Organic chemistry

Organic chemistry is a subdiscipline within chemistry involving the scientific study of the structure, properties, composition, reactions, and preparation of carbon-based compounds, hydrocarbons, and their derivatives...

 is a special type of elimination reaction

Elimination reaction

An elimination reaction is a type of organic reaction in which two substituents are removed from a molecule in either a one or two-step mechanism...

 in which two vicinal

Vicinal (chemistry)

In chemistry vicinal stands for any two functional groups bonded to two adjacent carbon atoms. For example the molecule 2,3-dibromobutane carries two vicinal bromine atoms and 1,3-dibromobutane does not....

 substituent

Substituent

In organic chemistry and biochemistry, a substituent is an atom or group of atoms substituted in place of a hydrogen atom on the parent chain of a hydrocarbon...

s on an alkane

Alkane

Alkanes are chemical compounds that consist only of hydrogen and carbon atoms and are bonded exclusively by single bonds without any cycles...

 framework leave simultaneously in a single step to form an alkene

Alkene

In organic chemistry, an alkene, olefin, or olefine is an unsaturated chemical compound containing at least one carbon-to-carbon double bond...

 in a syn elimination . In regular eliminations this reaction would involve a base or would in many cases involve charged intermediates. This reaction mechanism

Reaction mechanism

In chemistry, a reaction mechanism is the step by step sequence of elementary reactions by which overall chemical change occurs.Although only the net chemical change is directly observable for most chemical reactions, experiments can often be designed that suggest the possible sequence of steps in...

 is often found in pyrolysis

Pyrolysis

Pyrolysis is a thermochemical decomposition of organic material at elevated temperatures without the participation of oxygen. It involves the simultaneous change of chemical composition and physical phase, and is irreversible...

.

Examples are eliminations involving the Burgess reagent

Burgess reagent

The Burgess reagent or methyl N-carbamate was developed in the laboratory of Edward M. Burgess at Georgia Tech. It is a mild and selective dehydrating reagent often used in organic chemistry. It is used to convert secondary and tertiary alcohol with an adjacent proton into alkenes. Primary alcohols...

, Hofmann elimination

Hofmann elimination

Hofmann elimination is a process where an amine is reacted to create a tertiary amine and an alkene by treatment with excess methyl iodide followed by treatment with silver oxide, water, and heat.After the first step, a quaternary ammonium iodide salt is created...

 (with some sterically hindered substrates), the Cope elimination and ester pyrolysis

Ester pyrolysis

Ester pyrolysis in organic chemistry is a vacuum pyrolysis reaction converting esters containing a β-hydrogen atom into the corresponding carboxylic acid and the alkene...

.