Organic Techniques

Organic Techniques:

• Understanding of organic chemistry starts with recognising the chemistry of carbon. There are four valance electrons in an atom of carbon and it can form covalent bonds with other atoms.

• Organic compounds are chemical compounds that contain carbon atoms that are covalently bonded to hydrogen atoms in hydrocarbons or other carbon atoms.

• Crucial types of organic compounds for this review include alkanes, alkenes, and alkynes. Each is identified by the types of carbon-carbon bonds they possess – single, double, or triple respectively.

• Alkanes are named according to the number of carbons in the longest chain with a suffix of ‘ane’. The first four alkanes in terms of carbons are methane, ethane, propane, and butane respectively.

• The ‘IUPAC’ rules should be studied in detail for correct naming of compounds in organic chemistry, including the use of prefixes and suffixes.

• Isomers are compounds with the same molecular formula but different structural formula.

• The process of elimination in which a hydrogen halide or water molecule is eliminated from a saturated organic compound is known as elimination reaction.

• Learn about substitution reactions, where an atom (or group of atoms) in a molecule is replaced with another atom (or group of atoms).

• Oxidation and reduction reactions are also important. In organic chemistry, these often involve the gain or loss of oxygen, hydrogen, or electrons.

• The chemical reaction that combines two molecules through the removal of water is Dehydration synthesis. This is an important process in biology for the formation of polymers.

• Techniques of purification and identification of organic compounds such as crystallisation, distillation and chromatography must be grasped.

• Spectroscopy techniques are valuable for the identification of organic compounds. This includes both infrared (IR) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy.

• A clear understanding should be developed of how to draw and interpret ‘skeletal formulae’ of organic molecules. These are simplified organic formulae that are a useful tool in organic chemistry.

• Learn about the concept of homologous series, series of compounds in which adjacent members differ by a CH2 unit.

• Understanding aromatics, particularly the stability and reactivity of benzene, is an essential part of your revision.