Review on General Chemistry and Organic Chemistry

A complete set of vocabulary flashcards covering general chemistry review concepts, chemical bonding types, carbon properties, hydrocarbon families, functional groups, and biological macromolecules.

Electronegativity

The relative ability of atoms to attract shared electrons; it increases across a period from left to right and decreases down a group. Fluorine has the highest value at $4.0$, while cesium and francium have the lowest at $0.7$.

Ionic Bond

A chemical bond resulting from the attraction between anions and cations, formed when electrons are completely transferred from a metal to a nonmetal.

Metallic Salts

A common term for ionic compounds, which consist of anions and cations held together by strong ionic bonds.

Cations

Positively charged ions formed when metal atoms lose all of their valence electrons; they are smaller than their parent atoms.

Anions

Negatively charged ions formed when nonmetal atoms gain electrons to fill their outer $s$ and $p$ subshells; they are larger than their parent atoms.

Crystal Lattice Pattern

The highly ordered, strong structural arrangement of ions in ionic compounds that leads to high melting points, high boiling points, and hard structures.

Covalent Bond

A chemical bond formed by the sharing of electrons, occurring mostly between nonmetal atoms or between metalloids and nonmetals.

Nonpolar Covalent Bond

A type of covalent bond between nonmetal atoms where electrons are shared equally (or almost equally), with an electronegativity difference ranging from $0.0$ to $0.4$.

Polar Covalent Bond

A type of covalent bond between nonmetal atoms where electrons are shared unequally, characterized by an electronegativity difference from $0.5$ to $1.7$.

Organic Chemistry

The branch of chemistry concerned with the study of the structure, properties, composition, reactions, and preparation of carbon-containing compounds.

Organic Compound

Any chemical compound in which one or more atoms of carbon are covalently linked to atoms of other elements.

Hydrocarbon

A compound containing only carbon and hydrogen atoms; hydrocarbons mix poorly with water and are flammable.

Saturated Hydrocarbons

Hydrocarbons containing only single carbon-carbon bonds with the maximum possible number of hydrogen atoms attached per carbon.

Unsaturated Hydrocarbons

Hydrocarbons that contain carbon-carbon double or triple bonds, resulting in fewer hydrogen atoms attached compared to saturated hydrocarbons.

Alkanes

A family of saturated hydrocarbons containing only single carbon-carbon bonds, with every carbon atom forming $4$ single bonds and following the formula $C_nH_{2n+2}$.

Alkenes

A family of unsaturated hydrocarbons that contain at least one carbon-carbon double bond.

Alkynes

A family of unsaturated hydrocarbons that contain at least one carbon-carbon triple bond.

Aromatic Hydrocarbons

A family of unsaturated hydrocarbons featuring cyclic ring structures with alternating double bonds, such as benzene.

Functional Group

An atom, group of atoms, or bond that imparts a specific set of physical and chemical properties to an organic molecule.

Alcohol

An organic compound family characterized by the presence of a hydroxyl group ($\text{-OH}$) bonded to an alkane-type carbon.

Carboxylic Acid

An organic compound family containing a carboxyl group ($\text{-COOH}$), which consists of a hydroxyl group directly attached to a carbonyl group ($\text{C=O}$).

Halogen

Any element found in Group $17$ (Column $7A$) of the periodic table, including fluorine ($\text{F}$), chlorine ($\text{Cl}$), bromine ($\text{Br}$), iodine ($\text{I}$), and astatine ($\text{At}$).

Haloalkanes

Also known as alkyl halides, these organic compounds contain a halogen atom covalently bonded to a carbon atom.

Amines

Organic compounds containing a nitrogen atom bonded to carbon chains or hydrogens; systematically named using the suffix -amine.

Carbonyl Group

A functional group consisting of a carbon atom double-bonded to an oxygen atom ($\text{C=O}$), central to both aldehydes and ketones.

Aldehydes

Organic compounds containing a carbonyl group ($\text{C=O}$) bonded to at least one hydrogen atom, named using the suffix -al.

Ketones

Organic compounds containing a carbonyl group ($\text{C=O}$) bonded to two hydrocarbon groups, named using the suffix -one.

Ester

An organic functional group produced through the reaction of an alcohol with a carboxylic acid, commonly found in lipids.

Esterification

A dehydration-condensation reaction between a carboxylic acid and an alcohol that yields an ester and water ($\text{HOH}$).

Amides

Organic compounds containing a carbonyl group bonded to a nitrogen atom ($\text{-C(=O)-N-}$); they can be hydrolyzed into a carboxylic acid and an amine.

Peptide Bond

An amide linkage that connects amino acid monomers together within a protein structure.

Polymer

A large molecule composed of a long chain of many smaller repeating molecular units linked together.

Monomer

A small molecule that acts as a single building block to combine with others in forming a polymer.

Polymerization

The chemical reaction process by which monomer molecules are joined together to produce a polymer.

Biological Macromolecules

The four major classes of large organic polymers required by living organisms: carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, and nucleic acids.