11-Introduction to Organic Chemistry 

  • Organic chemistry is the study of the millions of covalent compounds of the element carbon
  • These structurally diverse compounds vary from naturally occurring petroleum fuels to DNA and the molecules in living systems.
  • Organic compounds also demonstrate human ingenuity in the vast range of synthetic materials created by chemists. - Many of these compounds are used as drugs, medicines and plastics.

==Why can carbon form rings and very long chains?==

  • A carbon atom has 4 electrons in its outer shell, so it forms 4 covalent bonds
  • ==Carbon-carbon bonds== are relatively ==strong and non-polar==

 4 single bonds joining carbon

 2 single bonds and one double bond

Displayed formula

  • shows every atom and every bond in the molecule
  • shows the arrangement of atoms showing all the bonds and atoms in the molecule

 

Structural formula

  • shows the unique arrangement of atoms in a molecule in a simplified form, without showing all the bonds

   

Skeletal formula

  • carbon atoms are not drawn at all
  • straight lines represent carbon to carbon bonds
  • carbon atoms are assumed to be where the bonds meet
  • shows that bonds of the carbon skeleton only.
  • Hydrogen and carbon atoms are not shown, only functional groups are

   

   

Free radicals

  • when a covalent bond breaks in a way that one electron goes to each atom that originally formed the bond
  • the fragments of the original molecule have an unpaired electron - free radicals
  • extremely reactive
@@Nomenclature - naming organic compounds@@
  • The system used for naming compounds was developed by IUPAC
  • Systematic names tell us… about the structure of the compounds rather than just the formula

Roots

  • tells us whether there are any double bonds
  • -@@ane@@ means no double bond
  • -@@ene@@ means double bond

Functional groups

  • reactive groups attached to a hydrocarbon chain
  • halogenalkenes are named using a prefix rather than a suffix (bromo-, chloro-, fluoro-)

 

@@Chain and position isomers @@

  • a number is used to tell us the position of any branching in a chain and the position of any functional group

 Structural isomers

  • structural isomers have the same molecular formula but different structural formulae

 both of these molecules are 1-bromopropane

 1-bromopropane can be represented by either of the structural formulae above because all the hydrogens on carbon 1 are equivalent

@@Homologous series@@

  • }}Homologous series is a family of organic compounds with the same functional group but different carbon chain length}}
  • members of a homologous series have the same general formula
  • successive members of the same homologous series increases by CH2
  • the length of the carbon chain doesnotaffectthechemicalreactivitydoes not affect the chemical reactivity of the functional group
  • the length of the carbon chain doesaffectphysicalpropertiesdoes affect physical properties such as boiling and melting point
    • melting and boiling point increase by a small amount when the number of carbon in the chain increases
  • chainbranchingchain branching ==reduces== themeltingpointthe melting point because the moleculespacktogetherlesswellmolecules pack together less well

 

Isomers

  • {{Isomers are molecules that have the same molecular formula but whose atoms are arranged differently{{
  • There are 2 basic types of isomerism:
    • ==Structural isomerism==
    • ==Stereoisomerism==

Structural isomerism

  • Structural isomerism - have the ==same molecular formula== but ==different structural formula==
  • 3 Different Structural isomers:
    • PositionalisomerismPositional isomerism
    • FunctionalgroupisomerismFunctional group isomerism
    • ChainisomerismChain isomerism

Positional isomerism

  • the same functional groups attached to the main chain at different points
  • same molecular formula but different position of the functional group

 

Functional isomerism

  • functional groups that are different
  • same molecular formula but different functional group

 

 

Chain isomerism

  • a different arrangement of the hydrocarbon chain, e.g., branching

 

 

==Stereoisomerism==

  • Stereoisomerism - where two or more compounds have the same structural formula. They differ in the arrangement of the atoms in space
  • There are @@2 types of stereoisomerism:@@
    • ==E-Z isomerism==
    • ==Optical isomerism==

E-Z isomerism

  • tells us about the position of substituents at either side of a carbon-carbon double bond
  • two substituents can either be in the @@same side of the bond (Z isomer)@@ or on %%opposite sides (E isomer)%%
  • substituted groups joined by a single bond can rotate around the single bond
  • there is no rotation around a double bond
  • have @@different chemical and physical properties@@
  • e.g. different reaction rates for the same reaction (chemical property) or different melting/boiling points (physical property)
  • \

 

How can I tell if the compound is stereo or structural?

  • Is there is @@no restricted bond rotation around C-C bond, (no double bond)@@ so it is @@structural isomerism@@
  • structural isomerism = no restricted bond rotation = no double bond
  • stereo isomerism = a restricted bond rotation = double bond

How to deduce isomers?

  • Step 1: Draw the structural formula of the compound

 

  • Step 2: Determine whether it is a stereo or structural isomer
    • There is no restricted bond rotation around the C-C bond, so it is structural isomerism
  • Step 3: Determine whether it is a functional group, chain or positional isomerism
    • ==Functional group?== No, as there are no functional groups
    • ==Positional?== No, as there are no functional groups which can be positioned on different carbon atoms
    • ==Chain?== Yes!

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How to deduce isomers? Example 2

  • Step 1: Draw the possible structural formula of the compound

 

  • Step 2: Determine whether it is a stereo or structural isomer

The compound has to be ==unsaturated== for it to have molecular formula C2H2Cl2 ; Due to the ==double bond== there is ==restricted rotation about the C-C bond;== This compound will therefore display ==geometrical isomerism==