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Unit 7: Organic Chemistry Preview

  • Page ID
    207344
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    Unit 7 Objectives

    By the end of this unit, you will be able to:

    • Define organic compounds
    • Explain why organic chemistry is important to life
    • Identify the difference between a hydrocarbon and heteroatom
    • Draw organic molecules using structural formulas, condensed structural formulas, carbon skeleton formulas
    • Define and identify and draw constitutional isomers and geometric isomers and optical isomers
    • Identify and draw examples of common organic functional grounds
    • Name simple alkanes, alkenes and alkynes

    • 7.1: Introduction to Organic Molecules
      Carbon is the element of life!
    • 7.2: Representing Organic Compounds
      We will begin with a reminder of how chemists depict bonding in organic molecules with the 'Lewis structure' drawing convention, focusing on the concept of 'formal charge'. We will review the common bonding patterns of the six elements necessary for all forms of life on earth - carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, sulfur, and phosphorus - plus the halogens (fluorine, chlorine, bromine, and iodine).
    • 7.3: Isomers
      Isomers are two or more compounds that have the same molecular formula, but have a different arrangement of atoms in a molecule. There are many different types of isomerism in organic molecules, we will review some of the different types here.
    • 7.4: Alkanes- Saturated Hydrocarbons
      Simple alkanes exist as a homologous series, in which adjacent members differ by a CH2 unit.
    • 7.5: Alkenes and Alkynes
      As noted before, alkenes are hydrocarbons with carbon-to-carbon double bonds (R2C=CR2) and alkynes are hydrocarbons with carbon-to-carbon triple bonds (R–C≡C–R). Collectively, they are called unsaturated hydrocarbons because they have fewer hydrogen atoms than does an alkane with the same number of carbon atoms, as is indicated in the following general formulas:
    • 7.6: Functional Groups
      Functional groups are atoms or small groups of atoms (two to four) that exhibit a characteristic reactivity. A particular functional group will almost always display its characteristic chemical behavior when it is present in a compound. Because of their importance in understanding organic chemistry, functional groups have characteristic names that often carry over in the naming of individual compounds incorporating specific groups


    Unit 7: Organic Chemistry Preview is shared under a not declared license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by LibreTexts.

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