The chemistry of carbon and its compounds

1. Forms bonds with other elements by sharing electron pairs (covalent bonds) 2. Can form single, double or triple bonds to either itself or other elements

-most organic compounds are classified according to their functional groups

Functional groups – groups of atoms that react in a characteristic way

Compounds containing only hydrogen and carbon

Three different types ◦ 1. aliphatic ◦ 2. aromatic ◦ 3. homologous series

Hydrocarbons with straight or branched chains of carbons, or simple rings

Ex:

Hydrocarbons that contain benzene rings

Ex.:

Group of hydrocarbons whose similarity is based mainly on the type of bonding between carbon atoms

Components of a homologous series differ from each succeeding compound by the CH2, or methyl group

Ex.:

Every carbon atom has four single bonds of identical length and strength

Electron configuration of carbon (ground state) 1s 2s 2p A ground state carbon atom promotes one electron

from the 2s sublevel to the empty 2p sublevel Once that electron jumps up to the 2p sublevel,

carbon now has 4 half-filled orbitals sp3 hybridized – now carbon can form 4 new bonds

(bonding state)

1s 2s 2p

1. molecular formula – shows the number of atoms of each element in a molecule (doesn’t show arrangement)

2. structural formula – shows the positions of all the atoms and bonds in a molecule ◦ -shows structural isomers – different ways to draw

the same molecular formula

3. carbon skeleton – shows the relative positions of the carbon atoms (doesn’t show the hydrogen atoms)

4. semistructural formula – shows the relative positions of the carbon atoms in a molecule and the number of hydrogens attached to each carbon

5. single line formula – a condensed form of the semistructural formula

6. line formula – shows the carbon-carbon bonds (look at the end and/or intersection of each line and assume a carbon is there)

Hydrocarbons contain only H and C When the H in a hydrocarbon is replaced by

another atom or group of atoms, this becomes the reactive site in the molecule

1. Alcohols

2. Ethers

3. Aldehyde

4. Ketone

5. Ester

6. Carboxylic Acid

7. Amines

8. Alkenes

9. Alkynes

Isomers – compounds with the same molecular formula, but different structures ◦ As the number of carbons increases, the number of

isomers increases dramatically ◦ Ex.: C5H12 – pentane – has 3 different isomers ◦ C8H18 – octane – has 18 different isomers ◦ It became obvious that assigning a different name

for each isomer was impractical, so a system was designed in order to name organic compounds

IUPAC Nomenclature – the naming system formulated by the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry