Biochemistry and Basics of Organic Chemistry

This set of vocabulary flashcards covers the introduction to biochemistry, the historical development of organic chemistry, the properties of carbon, and the main functional groups and their nomenclature.

Biochemistry

The study of the chemical processes that underpin life, bridging biology and chemistry to explain how living organisms function at a molecular level.

Organic Chemistry

A branch of chemistry that focuses on the study of carbon-containing compounds, typically involving carbon-hydrogen bonds.

Vital Force

A special force early chemists believed was active only in living organisms and was required to produce organic compounds.

Friedrich Wöhler

A German chemist who in 1828 demonstrated that urea could be produced in a laboratory from the inorganic salt ammonium cyanate.

Tetravalent

The property of carbon that allows it to share four valence electrons and form four strong covalent bonds.

Functional Group

A unique reactive combination of atoms that differentiates molecules of organic compounds of one class from those of another.

Expanded structural formula

A structural molecular formula showing all the covalent bonds.

Condensed structural formula

A structural molecular formula showing the general arrangement of atoms but without showing all the covalent bonds.

Hydrocarbons

The simplest of all organic compounds, containing only carbon and hydrogen.

Saturated hydrocarbons

Organic compounds, also known as alkanes, in which carbon is bonded to four other atoms by single bonds; they contain no double or triple bonds.

Unsaturated hydrocarbons

Hydrocarbons called alkenes, alkynes, and aromatics that contain double bonds, triple bonds, or six-carbon rings.

Structural isomers

Compounds with the same molecular formula but different connections of atoms, resulting in different physical and chemical properties.

Primary alcohol

An alcohol in which the $-OH$ group is attached to $CH_3$ or to a carbon attached to one other carbon atom.

Secondary alcohol

An alcohol in which the carbon bearing the $-OH$ group is attached to two other carbon atoms.

Tertiary alcohol

An alcohol in which the carbon bearing the $-OH$ group is attached to three other carbon atoms.

Phenols

Compounds in which an $-OH$ group is connected to a benzene ring.

Ethers

Organic compounds formed by dehydration between alcohol molecules and used as solvents or general anesthetics.

Thiols

Sulfur counterparts of alcohols that contain an $-SH$ group rather than an $-OH$ group; also known as mercaptans.

Carbonyl group

A functional group in which a carbon is double bonded to an oxygen atom and single bonded to two other atoms.

Aldehyde

A compound with a carbonyl group bonded to at least one $H$ atom, always designated as carbon number 1 in names.

Ketone

A compound where two carbon atoms are bonded to the carbonyl group.

Carboxylic Acids

Organic compounds containing a carboxyl group, where the naming begins with the carboxyl carbon and ends with the suffix -oic acid.

Fatty Acids

Carboxylic acids with long hydrocarbon chains, generally containing 12 to 20 carbon atoms.

Esters

Fragrant compounds formed by heating carboxylic acids with alcohols or phenols in the presence of an acid catalyst.

Amines

Organic derivatives of ammonia, $NH_3$, classified as primary, secondary, or tertiary depending on the number of hydrogen atoms replaced.

Neurotransmitter

A chemical messenger of the nervous system that carries nerve impulses from one nerve cell (neuron) to another.