Organic Chemistry

An introduction to the chemicals of life!

Organic vs. Inorganic

• Contains Carbon

• Found in and/or produced by living things

• Includes fossil fuels

• Generally does not contain Carbon

• Natural and synthetic substances

Characteristics of Carbon:

• Can form 4 strong bonds

• May form double and triple bonds

• Strong bonds with many non-metals (H, O, Cl, N)

• Can form long chain molecules

We will begin with hydrocarbons

• Hydrocarbons contain only carbon and hydrogen

• There are three types of hydrocarbons:

–Aliphatic

–Alicyclic

–Aromatic

ALIPHATIC HYDROCARBONS

• Aliphatic hydrocarbons contain chains of carbon atoms

• There can be as few as one carbon and as many as several thousand in these chains

• The chains can be “straight” or they can be branched

ALICYCLIC HYDROCARBONS

• Alicyclic hydrocarbons contain rings of carbon atoms

• There can be as few as three carbons in a ring or as many as 10-15

• The ring systems are three dimensional, not flat

AROMATIC HYDROCARBONS

• Aromatic hydrocarbons usually contain six member carbon rings with alternating single and double bonds around the ring

• The system of single and double bonds makes them aromatic rather than alicyclic

• The basic ring member is called “benzene”

ORGANIC COMPOUNDS• Organic compounds can be thought of as being

made up of a small number of different parts which can be assembled in an infinite number of ways.

• The longest chain of an organic compound is considered the parent structure. The groups attached are called functional groups

• There are many more organic compounds than inorganic compounds

How are you doing so far?• Organic chemistry is

very important for anyone pursuing any type of medical career

• In college, organic chemistry is usually a two or three semester experience

SATURATED VERSUS UNSATURATED

• A saturated organic compound contains only carbon-carbon single bonds

• They can be aliphatic or alicyclic, but not aromatic

• An unsaturated organic compound contains at least one carbon-carbon double or triple bond

• They can be aliphatic, alicyclic, or aromatic

Back to the aliphatic hydrocarbons

• There are three types of aliphatic hydrocarbons

– alkanes (single bonds only)

– alkenes (at least one double bond)

– alkynes (at least one triple bond)

ALKANES• Also called the paraffins

• They are saturated hydrocarbons (contain maximum number of hydrogen atoms)

• Have the general formula, CnH2n+2

• Let’s consider the first thirty alkanes

• (handout chart)

If there is only one Carbon, how many hydrogen atoms are there?

Answer = 4

CH4 is called methane

What about two carbon atoms?

Alkanes Chart - handout

• Let’s go to the the board and look at the structural formulas for the alkanes

MOLECULAR ISOMERS

• Molecular isomers have the same formula, but different structure– the difference occurs based on how the

carbon atoms are arranged– there can be many different isomers for the

same formula

Example• Butane has a formula of C4H10

• C – C – C – C

• C – C – C |

C

Let’s Go to the board again and write the 5 isomers for

Hexane

C6H14

ALKENES• Also called the olefins

• They are unsaturated hydrocarbons containing one or more carbon-carbon double bonds

• They are named by changing the -ane ending to -ene

• They have the general formula CNH2N

ALKYNES• Also called the acetylenes

• They are unsaturated hydrocarbons containing one or more carbon-carbon triple bond

• They are named by changing the -ane ending to -yne

• They have the general formula CNH2N-2

ALKYL GROUPS(handout)

• Alkyl groups are functional groups made from the alkanes – they are saturated– to name them, change

the -ane ending to -yl– example: methane

becomes methyl

Naming organic compounds

• In order to name organic compounds, a very systematic approach is used

• The system is called IUPAC– International Union of

Pure and Applied Chemistry

Rules for IUPAC naming• Determine the parent structure (longest

continuous carbon chain) and write down the name

• Circle each substituent group (functional group) attached to the parent structure

• Number the parent structure starting from the end closest to a substituent group

More IUPAC rules• Write down the name of each substituent

group preceded by a number showing the point of attachment to the parent structure

• Use commas to separate numbers and hyphens to separate substituent groups

• Use binary prefixes to indicate how many of each substituent group is present

Binary Prefixes• 2 Di• 3 Tri• 4 Tetra• 5 Penta• 6 Hexa• 7 Hepta• 8 Octa• 9 Nona• 10 Deca