What is a carbene?
Q: What is a carbene?
A: A carbene is a molecule with a carbon atom that has two bonds and two other electrons that do not make any bonds.
Q: Why is a carbene reactive?
A: The carbon in a carbene has only 6 electrons around it, making it quite reactive.
Q: What is the general formula for a carbene?
A: The general formula for a carbene can be written as R-(C:)-R'.
Q: What are the two types of carbene?
A: The two types of carbene are singlet and triplet.
Q: What is the difference between a singlet and triplet carbene?
A: In a singlet carbene, the two electrons that do not make bonds are like a lone pair and stay in the same orbital. In a triplet carbene, the two electrons stay in different orbitals and have the same spin.
Q: What reactions can carbenes do?
A: Carbenes can do many reactions. They can be both electrophiles and nucleophiles, and they like doing addition reactions on double bonds. They are also found in cheletropic reactions.
Q: Are carbenes stable?
A: Most carbenes are very unstable, but some can exist for a long time. An example is Grubbs' catalyst, which was developed by Robert Grubbs.
