General Chemistry and Organic Chemistry Vocabulary

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards generated from lecture notes covering foundational principles in general chemistry, thermodynamics, quantum theory, and organic chemistry.

Third Law of Thermodynamics

States that the entropy of a pure crystalline substance approaches zero as temperature approaches absolute zero ($0\,\text{K}$).

Uncompetitive Inhibitor

An inhibitor that binds specifically to the enzyme-substrate complex.

Saturated Solution

A solution that contains the maximum amount of solute that the solvent can solubilize under specified conditions.

Debye Forces

Intermolecular forces arising from the interaction of a permanent dipole inducing a dipole in a non-polar molecule.

Alkanes

Saturated hydrocarbons containing only carbon-carbon and carbon-hydrogen single bonds, traditionally referred to as paraffins.

Inverse Agonist

A ligand that binds to a receptor and decreases its baseline or constitutive activity.

Coordinate Covalent Bond

Also known as a dative bond, a covalent bond in which both shared electrons originate from a single atom.

Decarboxylation

A chemical reaction involving the removal of a carboxyl group ($-\text{COOH}$) from a compound, resulting in the release of carbon dioxide ($\text{CO}_2$).

Hückel's Rule

A rule stating that a cyclic, planar molecule achieves aromaticity if it possesses $4n+2$ pi electrons, where $n$ is a non-negative integer.

Indole

A heterocyclic ring system present in tryptophan, consisting of a benzene ring fused to a five-membered nitrogen-containing pyrrole ring.

Thomson Model

Also known as the Plum Pudding Model, an atomic model describing the atom as a positive spherical mass with electrons embedded in it.

Catenation

The property of a carbon atom to form up to four covalent bonds with other carbon atoms, creating chains, branches, and rings.

Law of Definite Proportions

Also known as Proust's Law, states that a chemical compound always contains its component elements in fixed and definite proportions by mass.

Pauli's Exclusion Principle

A quantum mechanics principle stating that no two electrons in an atom can have the exact same set of four quantum numbers.

Hund's Rule of Maximum Multiplicity

A principle stating that orbitals of equal energy level must be filled singly before pairing up.

Aufbau Principle

A principle stating that atoms are built by the progressive filling of main energy levels, sublevels, and orbitals with electrons according to an increasing sequence of energy.

Principal Quantum Number

Symbolized by $n$, it corresponds to the main energy level of an electron and describes the size of the orbital.

Azimuthal Quantum Number

Also known as the angular momentum quantum number ($l$), it describes the shape of an atomic orbital.

Magnetic Quantum Number

Symbolized by $m$ or $m_l$, it describes orbital behavior in a magnetic field and its spatial orientation.

Spin Quantum Number

Symbolized by $s$ or $m_s$, it describes the spin of an electron about its own axis in a clockwise or counter-clockwise direction.

Electronegativity

The measure of the ability of an atom to attract shared electrons toward itself in a chemical bond.

Bioisosteres

Chemical groups or substituents that are spatially and electronically equivalent, allowing them to be interchanged without significantly altering physicochemical properties.

Homolytic Fission

The cleavage of a covalent bond involving equal sharing of bonding electrons, producing neutral free radicals.

Heterolytic Fission

The cleavage of a covalent bond involving unequal sharing of bonding electrons, producing a carbocation and a carbanion.

Electrophile

An electron-deficient species (neutral or positively charged) that seeks to accept an electron pair.

Nucleophile

An electron-rich species (neutral or negatively charged) that seeks to donate an electron pair.

Enantiomers

Stereoisomers that are non-superimposable mirror images of each other.

Diastereomers

Stereoisomers that are non-superimposable and are not mirror images of each other.

Epimers

A specific type of diastereomer that differs in spatial configuration at only one chiral carbon center.

Resonance Structure

One of two or more Lewis structures for a single molecule where chemical interactions are identical but electron distribution differs.

Keesom Forces

Intermolecular electrostatic forces arising from dipole-dipole interactions between polar molecules.

London Dispersion Forces

Weak intermolecular forces arising from electron movement that creates temporary induced dipoles in non-polar molecules.

Anode

The positively charged electrode into which electrical current flows.

Cathode

The negatively charged electrode out of which electrical current flows.