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This post continues with a summary of the "Form" basis of Organic Chemistry. The word, "Form", refers to structure. Organic Chemistry is best understood by imagining molecular structures, based on carbon, as being built up with individual atoms utilized as a form of building blocks. The most fundamental compound molecular structures in Organic Chemistry are the hydrocarbons. It is important to understand that Organic Compounds are either hydrocarbons or derivatives of hydrocarbons. Derivatives of hydrocarbons consist of one or more functional groups added to a carbon chain or ring structure. The functional groups essentually control what type of compound a chemist may be dealing with and they are the basis of much Organic Chemistry nomenclature. Carbon itself is so versatile in bonding possibilities that it exists as four allotropic structures. The allotropes of carbon are diamond, graphite, nanotubes, and the fullerenes (e.g., Buckminsterfullerene; aka "Bucky Ball"). Future posts will elaborate on types of hydrocarbon structures and the allotropes of carbon.
A graphical summary of this post is provided below.
Another type of hydrocarbon not featured in the image above is the aromatic form. Aromatic hydrocarbons consist of a single benzene ring (possibly with hydrocarbon chains attached) and two or more benzene rings fused together (the polyaromatic hydrocarbons, aka PAH's). The details of aromatic compound structure will also be provided in a future posting.
That's all for now. As always, thank you for reading!
A Publication of http://ExcellenceInLearning.biz
This post continues with a summary of the "Form" basis of Organic Chemistry. The word, "Form", refers to structure. Organic Chemistry is best understood by imagining molecular structures, based on carbon, as being built up with individual atoms utilized as a form of building blocks. The most fundamental compound molecular structures in Organic Chemistry are the hydrocarbons. It is important to understand that Organic Compounds are either hydrocarbons or derivatives of hydrocarbons. Derivatives of hydrocarbons consist of one or more functional groups added to a carbon chain or ring structure. The functional groups essentually control what type of compound a chemist may be dealing with and they are the basis of much Organic Chemistry nomenclature. Carbon itself is so versatile in bonding possibilities that it exists as four allotropic structures. The allotropes of carbon are diamond, graphite, nanotubes, and the fullerenes (e.g., Buckminsterfullerene; aka "Bucky Ball"). Future posts will elaborate on types of hydrocarbon structures and the allotropes of carbon.
A graphical summary of this post is provided below.
That's all for now. As always, thank you for reading!
A Publication of http://ExcellenceInLearning.biz