Organic Chemistry



Organic chemistry is the study of the carbon compounding molecules. Inorganic chemistry, by contrast, is the study of all compounds that do NOT contain carbon compounds. How do you know if a compound is organic? A material is organic if it contains carbon bound to other atoms by covalence. Organic chemistry is the study of carbon and the study of the chemistry of life. Since not all carbon reactions are organic, another way to look at organic chemistry would be to consider it the study of molecules containing the carbon-hydrogen (C-H) bond and their reactions. Why Organic Chemistry Is Important. Structure and bonding. Dot structures: Structure and bonding Hybridization: Structure and bonding.

Organic chemistry describes the structures, properties, preparation, and reactions of a vast array of molecules that we call organic compounds. There are many different types of organic compounds, but all have carbon as their principal constituent atom. In organic chemistry, we will learn about the reactions chemists use to synthesize crazy carbon based structures, as well as the analytical methods to characterize them. We will also think about how those reactions are occurring on a molecular level with reaction mechanisms. Simply put, organic chemistry is like building with molecular Legos.

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When you explore biology, you’ll find that many processes are constantly occurring in living organisms. The study of organic chemistry — which focuses on carbon molecules — is central to all living organisms.

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The ability to convert ingested fuel to usable energy is what differentiates a living organism from a dead one. The ingested fuel contains a variety of large molecules (macromolecules) that get broken down. When the macromolecules have been broken down into their smallest parts, they can enter the cells, which contain more macromolecules, which are involved in more processes.

What is organic chemistry?

In organic chemistry, the focus is on the element carbon. Carbon is central to all living organisms; however, thousands of nonliving things (such as drugs, plastics, and dyes) are made from carbon compounds. Diamonds are carbon atoms in a crystal structure. Diamonds are so hard because the atoms of carbon are so closely bonded together in the crystal form. That same ability to pack closely together makes carbon an excellent structural element in its other forms as well.

Organic

One atom of carbon can combine with up to four other atoms. Therefore, organic compounds usually are large and can have several atoms and molecules bonded together. Organic molecules can be large, and they comprise the structural components of living organisms: carbohydrates, proteins, nucleic acids, and lipids.

Organic

Carbon is key

In their outer shells, carbon atoms have four electrons that can bond with other atoms. When carbon is bonded to hydrogen (which is common in organic molecules), the carbon atom shares an electron with hydrogen, and hydrogen likewise shares an electron with carbon. Carbon-hydrogen molecules are referred to as hydrocarbons. Nitrogen, sulfur, and oxygen also are often joined to carbon in living organisms.

Long carbon chains = low reactivity

Large molecules form when carbon atoms are joined together in a straight line or in rings. The longer the carbon chain, the less chemically reactive the compound is. However, in biology, other measures of reactivity are used. One example is enzymatic activity, which refers to how much more quickly a certain molecule can allow a reaction to occur.

One key to knowing that a compound is less reactive is that its melting and boiling points are high. Generally, the lower a compound’s melting and boiling points, the more reactive it is. For example, the hydrocarbon methane, which is the primary component of natural gas, has just one carbon and four hydrogen atoms. Because it is the shortest carbon compound, it has the lowest boiling point (-162°C) and is a gas at room temperature. It is highly reactive.

Organic Chemistry Definition

On the other hand, a compound made of an extremely long carbon chain has a boiling point of 174°C (compared to water, which has a boiling point of 100°C). Because it takes so much more for it to boil, it is much less reactive and is not gaseous at room temperature.

Forming functional groups based on properties

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In organic chemistry, molecules that have similar properties (whether they are chemical or physical properties) are grouped together. The reason they have similar properties is because they have similar groups of atoms; these groups of atoms are called functional groups.

Chemical properties involve one substance changing into another substance by reacting. An example of a chemical property is the ability of chlorine gas to react explosively when mixed with sodium. The chemical reaction creates a new substance, sodium chloride (table salt). Physical properties refer to different forms of a substance, but the substance remains the same; no chemical reaction or change to a new substance occurs.

Organic Chemistry

Organic Chemistry Portal

Some of the properties that the functional groups provide include polarity and acidity. For example, the functional group called carboxyl (-COOH) is a weak acid. Polarity refers to one end of a molecule having a charge (polar), and the other end having no charge (nonpolar). For example, the plasma membrane has hydrophilic heads on the outside that are polar, and the hydrophobic tails (which are nonpolar) form the inside of the plasma membrane.

The Organic Chemistry Portal offers an overview of recent topics, interesting reactions, and information on important chemicals for organic chemists.

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C-O Ring Construction: Karrinkinolide (Hosokawa), Sanctis B (Liu/Tan), Caesalpinnone A (Zheng), Cochlearol A (Ishigami), Alstoscholarisine E (Martin), Aranorosinol A (Xu)
18 January 2021 - Douglass F. Taber

C-O Ring Construction: The Rizzacasa Synthesis of Trachyspic Acid 19-n-Butyl Ester
11 January 2021 - Douglass F. Taber

The Chen/Yang Synthesis of Pre-schisanartanin C
04 January 2021 - Douglass F. Taber

Other Methods for Carbocyclic Construction: Aspidodispermine (Heretsch), Lepadiformine A (Tokuyama), Farnesin (Gao), Ganocin B (Zhao), Dankasterone B (Heretsch), Canataxpropellane (Gaich)
28 December 2020 - Douglass F. Taber

Organocatalyzed Carbocyclic Ring Construction: The Appayee Synthesis of 9β-11-Hydroxyhexahydrocannabinol
21 December 2020 - Douglass F. Taber


Organic Reactions

Find the most important name reactions in organic chemistry, stability data for the most frequently used protective groups, protection and deprotection methods; browse synthetic transformations

Abstracts of articles in the field of organic synthesis, published in the most highly regarded organic chemistry journals

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A searchable index of more than 1 million chemicals from suppliers worldwide, basic information on widely-used chemical reagents in organic synthesis such as oxidizing and reducing agents.

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Organic Chemistry - A Definition

Organic chemistry focuses on molecules mainly composed of carbon and hydrogen, along with a handful of other elements - such as oxygen, nitrogen, silicon, sulfur, and phosphorus. Organic chemistry deals with synthetic methods, reaction mechanisms and kinetics, and uses analytical methods for reaction control and purification such as chromatography (TLC, GC, HPLC), and structure confirmation such as NMR and IR, but also structure determination such as NMR and X-ray crystallography. New fields of organic chemistry for example include organometallic chemistry, which is the study of carbon-based compounds that contain metals, and bioorganic chemistry, which combines organic chemistry and biochemistry. Methods of organic chemistry are used in medicinal chemistry, natural product chemistry, and materials science. In the industry, organic chemists work in discovery chemistry (making new molecules) and process optimization (finding better synthetic methods for large scale production).