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2: Functional Groups

  • Page ID
    413119
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    For week 2, we have one goal: Learn to recognize the key organic chemistry functional groups and to understand how they are named.

    • 2.0: Functional groups and organic nomenclature
      Functional groups are structural units within organic compounds that are defined by specific bonding arrangements between specific atoms. The structure of capsaicin, the compound discussed in the beginning of this chapter, incorporates several functional groups, labeled in the figure below and explained throughout this section.
    • 2.1: Prelude to Organic Structure and Bonding II
      To understand why sperm oil has properties that made it both a useful industrial lubricant for humans and an effective buoyancy control and/or sonic lens for a hunting sperm whale, we first have to understand the nature of both the forces holding each wax molecule together and also the forces governing the noncovalent interactions between one wax molecule and all the others around it which determine physical properties such as viscosity, melting point, and density.


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