One of my elementary school teachers taught me that a good scientist is able to find patterns. You might be wondering what does that have to do with mechanisms? Turns out all mechanisms are a combination of the following five mechanistic patterns:
1. Nucleophilic attack
2. Loss of a leaving group
3. Proton Transfer
4. Rearrangement
5. Resonance
Learning these five patterns is much more manageable than trying to memorize every single reaction mechanism individually. In studying organic chemistry, you are actually learning to apply your chemical knowledge to decide what sequence of electron movements (pattern) will take place under the given conditions. Review and practice applying these five concepts using the Mechanisms content listed below