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Organic Chemistry
IN THIS CHAPTER
Summary:Organic chemistry is the study of the chemistry of carbon. Almost
all the compounds containing carbon are classified as organic compounds.
Only a few—for example, carbonates and cyanides—are classified as inor-
ganic. It used to be thought that all organic compounds had to be produced
by living organisms, but this idea was proven wrong in 1828 when German
chemist Friedrich Wöhler produced the first organic compound from inorganic
starting materials. Since that time, chemists have synthesized many organic
compounds found in nature and have also made many never found naturally.
It is carbon’s characteristic of bonding strongly to itself and to other elements
in long, complex chains and rings that gives carbon the ability to form the
many diverse and complex compounds needed to support life.Keywords and Equations
No keywords or equations specific to this chapter are listed on the AP exam.Alkanes
Alkanes are members of a family of organic compounds called hydrocarbons, compounds
of carbon and hydrogen. These hydrocarbons are the simplest of organic compounds, but
are extremely important to our society as fuels and raw materials for chemical industries.
We heat our homes and run our automobiles through the combustion (burning) of these
hydrocarbons. Paints, plastics, and pharmaceuticals are often made from hydrocarbons.
Alkanesare hydrocarbons that contain only single covalent bonds within their molecules.
They are called saturated hydrocarbons because they are bonded to the maximum number
of other atoms. These alkanes may be straight-chained hydrocarbons, in which the carbons
are sequentially bonded; branched hydrocarbons, in which another hydrocarbon group is
bonded to the hydrocarbon “backbone”; or they may be cyclic, in which the hydrocarbon
is composed entirely or partially of a ring system. The straight-chained and branchedCHAPTER
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KEY IDEA