Introduction to Organic Chemistry

Organic Chemistry is one of several branches within the field of chemistry. It specifically focuses on compounds containing carbon atoms with covalent bonds between molecules, including hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, sulfur, phosphorus, silicon, selenium, and other elements. These compounds are often found in living organisms. They can also form larger structures through various reactions like addition, elimination, substitution, rearrangement, oxidation & reduction, acid-base reaction, etc.. Some common examples of these compounds are carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, nucleotides, all of which play important roles in biology. Organic chemistry deals with materials such as polymers made from synthetic plastics derived from petroleum products. One key concept in this branch is functional groups, which consist of chemical groups attached to various parts of large molecular compounds. This helps chemists design new syntheses of complex organic compounds. Study of organic chemistry provides students with knowledge useful in many fields, including pharmaceuticals, agriculture, medicine, natural products, food science, environmental protection, and others.