Organic Chemistry Lecture 3: Classification of Compounds

Organic Chemistry

• Organic chemistry is the study of carbon-containing compounds.
• Organic molecules are made up of Carbon (C), Hydrogen (H), and a few other elements.
• Carbon occurs both as a free element (graphite, diamond) and in combined form (MgCO3, CaCO3).

Applications of Organic Chemistry

• Drugs can be synthesized from organic molecules, such as Penicillin, Aspirin, Paracetamol, and Alzheimer's drug.
• Carbon, along with hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen, makes up more than 99% of the mass of most cells and provides the building blocks of proteins, nucleic acids, lipids, saccharides, and metabolites.
• Carbon is a major buffering system used to maintain the pH of mammalian blood.
• A small amount of insoluble calcium and magnesium carbonates, CaCO3 and MgCO3, can be found in bones.
• Many compounds used in medicine are synthetic.

Properties of Carbon

• Carbon atoms can form very stable carbon-carbon single bonds with up to four other carbon atoms or Hydrogen atoms (alkanes).
• Carbon can form double and triple bonds (alkenes and alkynes).
• Covalently linked carbon atoms in biomolecules can form linear chains, branched chains, and cyclic structures.
• Carbon can form stable bonds with other elements like O, N, S, X – alcohol, aldehyde, ketones, esters, ethers, amines.

Carbon Compounds

• Carbon dioxide, CO2 is one of the end products of cellular respiration.
• Carbon monoxide gas, CO is highly toxic and displaces oxygen in the blood, depriving the heart, brain, and other vital organs of oxygen.

Classification of Organic Compounds

• Aliphatic and Aromatic compounds
• Open Chain and Cyclic compounds
• Homocyclic and Heterocyclic compounds
• Saturated and Unsaturated compounds

Functional Groups

• Alkyl Halides with halogen- RX
• Alcohols with -OH (R-OH)
• Amines with -NH2 (R-NH2)
• Carboxylic acids with -C-OH (R-COOH)
• Esters with -C-O (R-COOR’)
• Amides with -C-NH2 (RCONH2)
• Acid Anhydride