ORGANIC CHEMISTRY
ORGANIC COMPOUND :
The compounds of carbon are known as organic compounds.
Apart from carbon, most of the organic compounds contain
hydrogen and many organic compounds contain oxygen or other
elements. So, most of the organic compounds are hydrocarbons
(containing only carbon and hydrogen), or their derivatives.
Some of the examples of organic compounds are : Methane
(CH4), Ethane (C2H6), Ethene (C2H4), Ethyne (C2H2),
Trichloromethane (CHCl3), Ethanol (C2H5OH), Ethanal (CH3CHO),
Ethanoic acid (CH3COOH), and Urea [CO(NH2)2].
Carbon compounds (or organic compounds) are covalent
compounds having low melting points and boiling points.
Organic compounds occur in all living things like plants and
animals. Initially, all the organic compounds (or carbon
compounds) were extracted from natural materials obtained from
living things.
It was, therefore, thought that the organic compounds could only
be formed within a living body (plant or animal body) and hence a
‘vital force’ which creates living things was necessary for their
preparation.
This vital force theory of organic compounds was disproved by a
scientist Freidrich Wohler in 1828 as follows :
Urea is an organic compound which was thought to be made only
inside the bodies of living beings (like animals). Wohler prepared
the organic compound ‘urea’ [CO(NH2)2] in the laboratory from
an inorganic compound ‘ammonium cyanate’ (NH4CNO). This led
to the rejection of the vital force theory for the synthesis of
organic compounds.
,
The Large Number of Organic Compounds (or Carbon
Compounds):
The number of carbon compounds already known at present is
more than 5 million.
Reason for the Large Number of Organic Compounds (or
Carbon Compounds) :
The two characteristic properties of carbon element which lead
to the formation of a very large number of organic compounds (or
carbon compounds) are :
(i) catenation (self-linking), and (ii) tetravalency (four valency)
1. One reason for the existence of a large number of organic
compounds or carbon compounds is that carbon atoms can link
with one another by means of covalent bonds to form long chains
(or rings) of carbon atoms. The property of carbon element due to
which its atoms can join with one another to form long carbon
chains is called ‘catenation’. So, it is the property of ‘catenation’ of
carbon element which is responsible for a very large number of
organic compounds (catenation means ‘self-linking’). When carbon
atoms combine with one another, three types of chains can be
formed. These are : (i) straight chains,
(ii) branched chains, and
(iii) closed chains or ring type chains
2. Another reason for the existence of a large number of
organic compounds or carbon compounds is that the valency of
carbon is 4 (which is quite large).
Due to its large valency of 4, a carbon atom can form covalent
bonds with a number of carbon atoms as well as with a large
number of other atoms such as hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen,
sulphur, chlorine, and many more atoms. This leads to the
formation of a large number of organic compound.
Types of Organic Compounds Some of the common types of
organic compounds are : 1. Hydrocarbons
2. Haloalkanes (Halogenated hydrocarbons)
3. Alcohols
4. Aldehydes
5. Ketones
6. Carboxylic acids (Organic acids)
