Can I add transition states?

Insert a transition-state column between attack and tetrahedral intermediate. Draw the partial bonds with dotted lines.

InfographicsText → ImageMid creditEN

Organic Reaction Mechanism Explainer

Curly-arrow mechanism showing nucleophilic addition step by step with side-by-side analogues.

When to use this prompt

For organic chemistry teaching figures and mechanism review articles.

The prompt

An organic reaction mechanism explainer figure showing nucleophilic addition to a carbonyl across four mechanistic steps.

Top — Title block:
"Nucleophilic Addition to Aldehydes & Ketones — Mechanism Across N / O / S Nucleophiles"

Below — A 3-row by 4-column grid:
- Each row is one nucleophile family: nitrogen (amine), oxygen (alcohol), sulfur (thiol).
- Each column is one mechanistic step: (1) nucleophile attack on carbonyl carbon, (2) tetrahedral intermediate, (3) proton transfer, (4) product (hemiaminal / hemiacetal / hemithioacetal).

Each cell shows the molecular structure with curly arrows on the bond changes.

Annotations:
- A small arrow at the top of each step labels the bond-breaking and bond-forming events.
- Color the lone-pair / curly arrows in red.
- Use thin black skeletal structures with consistent atom labels (C, H implicit; N, O, S explicit).

Style: clean organic-chemistry textbook style, restrained palette (black bonds, red curly arrows, blue partial-charge labels), white background, sans-serif labels. Suitable for undergraduate organic chemistry textbooks and review articles.

Variations

Single-row hydrolysis-only

Drop the N and S rows; show only the O nucleophile (water) hydrolysis pathway across the four steps. Useful for hydrolysis-focused lectures.

Tips

Use red consistently for curly arrows. Mixed colors confuse mechanism reading.
Show partial charges (delta+, delta-) on the carbonyl. Without them, readers miss the polarisation rationale.
Use a grid (rows = nucleophile, columns = step). It makes the analogy explicit.