Indian Forest Service (Mains)

1. 1
   Delocalised covalent bonding

   Aromaticity, anti-aromaticity; annulenes, azulenes, tropolones, kekulene, fulvenes, sydnones.

2. 2 (a)
   Reaction mechanisms

   General methods (both kinetic and non-kinetic) of study of mechanism of organic reactions illustrated by examples: use of isotopes, cross-over experiment, intermediate trapping, stereochemistry; energy diagrams of simple organic reactions: transition states and intermediates; energy of activation; thermodynamic control and kinetic control of reactions.

3. 2 (b)
   Reactive intermediates

   Generation, geometry, stability and reactions of carbonium and carbenium ions, carbanions, free radicals, carbenes, benzynes and nitrenes.

4. 2 (c)
   Substitution reactions

   SN1, SN2, SNi, SN1′, SN2′, SNi′ and SRN1 mechanisms; neighbouring group participation; electrophilic and nucleophilic reactions of aromatic compounds including simple heterocyclic compounds: pyrrole, thiophene, indole.

5. 2 (d)
   Elimination reactions

   E1, E2 and E1cb mechanisms; orientation in E2 reactions: Saytzeff and Hofmann; pyrolytic syn elimination: acetate pyrolysis, Chugaev and Cope eliminations.

6. 2 (e)
   Addition reactions

   Electrophilic addition to C=C and C≡C; nucleophilic addition to C=O, C≡N, conjugated olefins and carbonyls.

7. 2 (f)
   Rearrangements

   Pinacol-pinacolone, Hofmann, Beckmann, Baeyer-Villiger, Favorskii, Fries, Claisen, Cope, Stevens and Wagner-Meerwein rearrangements.

8. 3
   Pericyclic reactions

   Classification and examples; Woodward-Hoffmann rules: electrocyclic reactions, cycloaddition reactions [2+2 and 4+2] and sigmatropic shifts [1, 3; 3, 3 and 1, 5], FMO approach.

9. 4
   Chemistry and mechanism of reactions

   Aldol condensation (including directed aldol condensation), Claisen condensation, Dieckmann, Perkin, Knoevenagel, Wittig, Clemmensen, Wolff-Kishner, Cannizzaro and von Richter reactions; Stobbe, benzoin and acyloin condensations; Fischer indole synthesis, Skraup synthesis, Bischler-Napieralski, Sandmeyer, Reimer-Tiemann and Reformatsky reactions.

10. 5 (a)
    Physical chemistry of polymers

    Polymer solutions and their thermodynamic properties; number and weight average molecular weights of polymers. Determination of molecular weights by sedimentation, light scattering, osmotic pressure, viscosity, end group analysis methods.

11. 5 (b)
    Preparation and properties of polymers

    Organic polymers: polyethylene, polystyrene, polyvinyl chloride, Teflon, nylon, terylene, synthetic and natural rubber. Inorganic polymers: phosphonitrilic halides, borazines, silicones and silicates.

12. 5 (c)
    Biopolymers

    Basic bonding in proteins, DNA and RNA.

13. 6
    Synthetic uses of reagents

    OsO₄, HIO₄, CrO₃, Pb(OAc)₄, SeO₂, NBS, B₂H₆, Na-liquid NH₃, LiAlH₄, NaBH₄, n-BuLi, MCPBA.

14. 7
    Photochemistry

    Photochemical reactions of simple organic compounds, excited and ground states, singlet and triplet states, Norrish Type I and Type II reactions.

15. 8
    Principles of spectroscopy and applications in structure elucidation

    (a) Rotational spectra: diatomic molecules; isotopic substitution and rotational constants. (b) Vibrational spectra: diatomic molecules, linear triatomic molecules, specific frequencies of functional groups in polyatomic molecules. (c) Electronic spectra: singlet and triplet states. n→π* and π→π* transitions; application to conjugated double bonds and conjugated carbonyls, Woodward-Fieser rules. (d) Nuclear magnetic resonance: isochronous and anisochronous protons; chemical shift and coupling constants; application of ¹H NMR to simple organic molecules. (e) Mass spectra: parent peak, base peak, daughter peak, metastable peak, fragmentation of simple organic molecules; α-cleavage, McLafferty rearrangement. (f) Electron spin resonance: inorganic complexes and free radicals.

The wording follows the UPSC examination notification, with misprints corrected. Check the current notification on upsc.gov.in before your exam.