INTRODUCTION AND HISTORY OF ORGANIC CHEMISTRY: OVERVIEW OF

ORGANIC COMPOUNDS

ORGANIC CHEMISTRY

 study of the compounds of carbon

CARBON
 The location of carbon in the middle of the periodic table and its low atomic mass makes it ideal
as the major element for biological compounds.
 Has the capability to form many different compounds.

CATENATION
 chemical linkage into chains of atoms of the same element

HISTORY
 Organic – derived from living organisms
 Vitalism – belief that natural products (sugar, starch, waxes and plant oils, among others)
needed a “vital force” to create them
 Jons Jakob Berzelius (1808) – first to use the term organic
 Michel Chevreul (1816) – found that soap could be separated into several pure organic
compounds known as fatty acids
 Friedrich Wohler (1828) – converted an inorganic salt into an organic substance, urea.
 Marcellin Berthelot – showed that all classes of organic compounds could be synthesized that
the vital force theory finally disappeared.
 Friedrich August Kekule (1858) – Discovered that carbon has a valence of 4 and can unite with
itself (catenation)
 Gilbert N. Lewis (1916) – introduced the concept of a bond formed by sharing electrons.
 Gilbert N. Lewis (1923) – came up with the idea that a molecule that accepts an electron pair
should be called an acid and a molecule that donates an electron pair should be called a base.
These are called Lewis acids and Lewis bases to this day.
 Erich Huckel – developed theories of bonding and orbitals and also speculated on the nature of
the C=C unit.
COMPARISON OF ORGANIC AND INORGANIC COMPOUNDS
TYPES OF CARBON
 CRYSTALLINE CARBON
 Graphite – soft, black slippery solid having metallic luster and conducts electricity. It
consists of parallel sheets of carbon atoms held together by Van der Waals forces (ρ =
2.25 g/cm3).
 Diamond - clear hard solid, denser than graphite (ρ = 3.51 g/cm3). At very high
temperature and pressure, graphite converts to diamond and mainly used in cutting,
grinding, and polishing tools.
 Buckminsterfullerene – molecular form of carbon discovered in the mid- 1980s,
consisting of C60. it has a cage-like fused-ring structure (truncated icosahedron)
resembling a soccer ball, made of 20 hexagons and 12 pentagons. Uses: antioxidants;
antiviral agents; drug delivery and gene delivery; photosensitizers in photodynamic
therapy; solar cells; protective eye wear; hardening agents.

 AMORPHOUS CARBON
 Carbon Black – used as a pigment in black inks, paints, plastics; reinforcing filter in tires
and rubber products.
 Charcoal – formed when wood is heated in the absence of air. Activated charcoal is a
pulverized form whose surface is cleaned by heating with steam and widely used as an
absorbent.
 Coke – high carbon content, few impurities used as a reducing agent in smelting iron
ore; manufacture of water gas (CO + H 2)

UNIQUENESS OF CARBON
 Catenation, can bond with another carbon atom forming long chains of carbon atoms
 Can have branches and form ring structures
 Bond strongly to other elements (heteroatoms) such as hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, halogens
 Can form double and triple bonds with other carbon atoms or with non-metals
 Four bonds

NON-METALS MOST OFTEN PRESENT IN ORGANIC SUBSTANCES

 H, O, N, S, P, and Halogens (F, Cl, Br, I)

METALS COMMONLY FOUND IN ORGANIC COMPOUNDS

 Fe, Mg, Zn, Cu, Pt, Na, K
MOLECULAR GEOMETRY, HYBRIDIZATION, COVALENT BOND,
FUNCTIONAL GROUPS

ATOM
 The basic building blocks of matter that make up everyday objects.
 Small dense nucleus diameter: 10-14 – 10-15 m
 Extranuclear space diameter: 10-10 m

ELECTRONIC CONFIGURATION OF ATOMS

 Principal Energy Levels (Shells) – regions of space where electrons are confined
 Each shell contain 2n2 electrons where n=number of the shell (n = 1,2,3,4…)


 Sublevels (Subshells) – designated by the letters s,p,d,f
 S – one orbital
 P – three orbitals
 D – five orbitals
 F – seven orbitals