Organic Chemistry Introduction

• Organic Compounds: covalently bonded carbon compounds, with the exception of carbonates, carbon oxides, and carbides.
• Biochemistry: the study of complex reactions taking place between organic compounds within living organisms.

Unique Carbon Atom

• Carbon has some unique properties that enable it to form hundreds of thousands of compounds.
• Carbon has 4 valence electrons, requiring 4 bonds to obtain an octet
• Carbon forms strong chemical bonds with other carbon atoms
• Carbon forms stable, almost non polar bonds with hydrogen
• Carbon atoms can bond to a wide variety of atoms
• H, P, O, N, S, the halogens, and even metal atoms.
• Bonds can be straight, branched, and in various lengths.
• They can even form rings
• Can form double and triple bonds

Structural Forumlas

• Structural formulas are used a lot in organic chemistry because molecular formulas can mean various compounds. 
• C₂H₆O can mean ethanol or dimethyl ether
• See page 446 in your books

Classification

• There are approx. 300,000 new organic compounds synthesized for the first time every year.
• It is important to have some categories:
• Aliphatic compounds: without a benzene ring
• Aromatic compounds: with a benzene ring