Understanding Organic Chemistry: Key Concepts

These flashcards cover the essential vocabulary and definitions from the lecture notes on organic chemistry.

Polar Covalent Bond

A type of bond that occurs when electrons are shared unequally between two atoms, resulting in a distribution of charge.

Electronegativity (EN)

The intrinsic ability of an atom to attract shared electrons in a covalent bond.

Dipole Moment (μ)

A measure of the polarity of a molecule, defined as the product of the charge and the distance between the charges.

Formal Charge

A bookkeeping method to determine the distribution of electrons in a molecule, calculated as the number of valence electrons minus the number of electrons assigned to an atom.

Resonance

The concept that certain molecules can be represented by two or more valid Lewis structures that differ only in the arrangement of electrons.

Brønsted-Lowry Acid

A substance that donates a hydrogen ion (H+).

Brønsted-Lowry Base

A substance that accepts a hydrogen ion (H+).

Lewis Acid

A substance that can accept an electron pair.

Lewis Base

A substance that can donate an electron pair.

Noncovalent Interaction

Forces that hold molecules together without forming covalent bonds, including hydrogen bonds, dipole-dipole interactions, and van der Waals forces.

Hydrophilic

Substances that are attracted to water and can dissolve in it.

Hydrophobic

Substances that repel water and do not dissolve in it.