Year 12 A Level Chemistry Keywords

Electrophile: electron pair acceptor

Nucleophile: electron pair donor

Radical: species that contains an unpaired electron

Stereoisomer – compounds that have the same structural formula and molecular formula but
different arrangement of atoms in space

Structural isomer- compounds that have the same molecular formula but different structural
formula

Homologous series – a group of organic compounds with the same functional group with successive
members differing by CH2

Aromatic- Hydrocarbons containing at least one benzene ring

Acyclic – hydrocarbons with carbon atoms joined together in a ring structure

Aliphatic – hydrocarbons with carbon atoms joined together with straight chains or branched
chains

Saturated- organic compounds containing only single covalent bonds

Unsaturated – organic compounds containing at least one double bond

Hydrocarbons –compounds that contain only carbon and hydrogen atoms

Reflux - the constant boiling and condensing of a reaction mixture.

Distillation- a type of separation technique that is carried out to separate a pure liquid from its
impurities (solid or liquid)

Redistillation- the purification of an organic liquid using multiple distillations

Anhydrous - a substance that contains no water molecules

Hydrated – a substance containing water molecules

Water of crystallisation – water molecules that form an essential part of the crystalline structure of
a compound

Oxidation: loss of electrons

Reduction: gain of electrons

Oxidising agent: An electron acceptor

Reducing agent: An electron donor

Relative atomic mass- weighted average/mean mass of an atom of an element compared with
1/12 of the mass of an atom of carbon-12

Relative isotopic mass -mass of an atom of an isotope compared with 1/12 of the mass of an atom
of carbon-12

Mole - the amount of any substance containing as many particles as there are carbon atoms in
exactly 12g of the carbon-12 isotope

Mass Number – the number of protons and neutrons in the nucleus of an atom

Atomic Number - the number of protons in the nucleus of an atom

Dynamic equilibrium - the rate of the forward reaction and the backward reaction are equal and
the concentration of reactants and products remain constant

Homogeneous Equilibrium – an equilibrium in which all the reactant and products are in the same
physical state

Heterogeneous Equilibrium - an equilibrium in which the reactant and products are in different
physical states

Strong acid- a proton donor that fully dissociates in aqueous solution

Weak acid- a proton donor that partially dissociates in aqueous solution

Strong base- a proton acceptor that fully dissociates in aqueous solution

Weak base- a proton acceptor that partially dissociates in aqueous solution

Alkali – a base that is soluble in water forming OH- ions

Exothermic reaction- the enthalpy of products is lower than the enthalpy of reactants and ΔH is
negative

Endothermic reaction- the enthalpy of reactants is lower than the enthalpy of products and ΔH is
positive

Exothermic (in terms of bond making/breaking) – when more heat energy is released during bond
formation than is absorbed during bond breaking

Endothermic (in terms of bond making/breaking) – when more heat energy is absorbed during
bond breaking than is released during bond formation

Standard enthalpy change of neutralisation – energy/ enthalpy change when an acid and a base
react together to form one mole of liquid water under standard conditions with all reactants and
products in their standard states

Standard enthalpy change of combustion - energy/enthalpy change that takes place when one
mole of a substance reacts completely with oxygen under standard conditions, with all reactants
and products in their standard states
Standard enthalpy change of formation- the energy change/ enthalpy change that takes place
when one mole of a compound is formed from its constituent elements in their standard states
under standard conditions

Specific heat capacity - the energy required to raise 1 g of a substance by 1K

Average bond enthalpy – the mean bond enthalpy needed for 1 mole of a given type of gaseous
bonds to undergo homolytic fission

Standard Conditions - 100 KPa, 298 K and all solutions have a concentration of 1 moldm -3

First Ionisation energy – the energy required to remove one electron from each atom in one mole
of gaseous atoms to form one mole of gaseous 1+ ions

Enthalpy change of reaction – energy change associated with a given reaction

Enthalpy change of formation- energy/enthalpy change that takes place when 1 mole of a
compound is formed from its constituent elements

Enthalpy change of combustion- energy/enthalpy change that takes place when one mole of a
substance reacts completely with oxygen

Enthalpy change of neutralisation- energy /enthalpy change when an acid and a base react
together to form one mole of liquid water

Rate of reaction – a measure of the change in concentration of reactant or product per unit time

Homogeneous Catalyst – catalyst used in a reaction, which is in the same phase as the reactant

Heterogeneous Catalyst – a catalyst used in a reaction, which is in a different phase from the
reactant

Catalyst – a catalyst that increases the rate of reaction without being used up itself and provides an
alternative reaction route with a lower activation energy

Activation energy – the minimum energy required to start a reaction

Covalent bond- the electrostatic force of attraction between a shared pair of electrons and the
nuclei of the bonded atoms

Dative covalent bond/Coordinate bond - type of covalent bond where one atom supplies both the
shared electrons to the covalent bond

Ionic bond- electrostatic force of attraction between positively charged ions and negatively
charged ions

Metallic bond- electrostatic force of attraction between the positively charged metal ions and the
negatively charged delocalised electrons

Electronegativity - the ability of an atom to attract bonding electrons in a covalent bond

Permanent Dipole- small charge difference across a covalent bond resulting from a difference in
electronegativities of the bonded atoms

Disproportionation reaction – a redox reaction where the same element has been both oxidised
and reduced

Oxidation state/number – the charge of an atom in an element, compound or ion

Transition element – a transition element is a d block element that can form at least one ion with a
partially filled d-orbital

d-block element - d-block element is an element whose highest energy electron is in a d orbital