Carbon and Its Compounds

Properties Of carbon
 The element carbon is non-metal. Its symbol is C.
 Carbon is a versatile element. The percentage of carbon present in earth’s crust in form
of mineral is 0.02% and in atmosphere as CO2 is 0.03%.
 All the living things, like plants and animals are made up of carbon based compounds. 
Carbon always forms covalent bonds.
 The atomic number of carbon is 6.

Why carbon cannot gain or lose four electron to complete octet

 It cannot gain 4 electrons and form C4- anion because the nucleus having 6 protons
cannot hold on 10 electrons, i.e. 4 extra electrons.
 It cannot lose 4 electrons and form C4+ cation because a large amount of energy is
required to remove 4 electrons leaving behind a carbon cation with 6 protons in its
nucleus holding on just two electrons together.

Covalent bonding
Carbon shares valence electrons with other atoms of carbon or with atoms of other elements.
These shared electrons belong to the outermost shell of both atoms and in this way ,both
atoms attain the nearest noble gas configuration. This type of bonding is called covalent
bonding.
Some Examples of covalent bonding.

1. Formation of hydrogen molecule (H2)

Atomic Number of H = 1
Electronic configuration of H = 1
Valence electron of H = 1
2. Formation of hydrogen chloride (HCl):
Valence electron of hydrogen = 1
Atomic number of chlorine = 17
Electronic configuration of chlorine: 2, 8, 7
Electrons in outermost orbit = 7
Valence electron = 7

3. Formation of chlorine molecule (Cl2):

Valence electron of chlorine = 7

4. Formation of water (H2O)

Valence electron of hydrogen = 1
Atomic number of oxygen = 8
Electronic configuration of oxygen = 2, 6
Valence electron = 6

5. Formation of Methane (CH4)

Valence electron of carbon = 4
Valence electron of hydrogen = 1

6. Formation of Ethane (C2H6):

7. Formation of Nitrogen molecule(N2)

8. Formation of carbon tetrachloride(CCl4)

9. Formation of Sulphur Molecule(S8)

Properties of Covalent Compounds
 Covalent compounds have low melting and boiling points due to small intermolecular
force of attraction between the atoms.
 Covalent compounds are generally poor conductor of electricity. This is because the
electrons are shared between atoms and no charged particles are formed in these
compounds.
 Covalent compounds are generally volatile in nature.
Difference between Covalent and Ionic Compounds
Allotropes of carbon
Allotropy is the property by virtue of which an element exists in more than one form and each
form has different physical properties but identical chemical properties. These different forms
are called allotropes. Carbon exists in different allotropic forms; some of them are:

 Crystalline form: Diamond, Graphite and Fullerene

 Amorphous form :Coal , Charcoal
Diamond

 It is a colourless,transparent substance with extra ordinary brilliance due to its high

refractive
 It is a heavy and hardest natural substance known.
 It does not conduct electricity and has high melting point.
Structure

 In diamond each carbon atom is bonded to four other carbon atoms forming a rigid
three dimensional network structure which is responsible for its hardness.
 A lot of energy is required to break the network of strong covalent bonds in the
diamond crystal .So, its melting point is high.
Graphite

 It is a greyish black, opaque substance.

 It is lighter than diamond, smooth and slippery to touch.
 It is a good conductor of electricity but bad conductor of heat.
 Structure

 A graphite crystal consists of layers of carbon atoms or sheets of carbon atoms.

 Each carbon atom in a graphite layer is joined to three other carbon atoms by strong
covalent bonds to form hexagonal rings. However, the fourth electron of each
carbon atom is free which makes it a good conductor of electricity.
 The various layers of carbon atoms in graphite are held together by weak van der
Waals forces so these can slide over one another and therefore, graphite is slippery
to touch.
Fullerenes

 These are recently discovered allotropic forms of carbon which were prepared for the
first time by H W Kroto, Smalley and Robert Curt by the action of laser beam on the
vapours of graphite.
 The first known fullerene was C60
 Fullerene was named Buckminster fullerene due to their resemblance with domes
designed by American Architect Robert Buckminster Fuller.

Versatile nature of carbon

The estimated number of carbon compounds known today is about three million.
Main factors that enables carbon to form large number of compounds are:
1. Catenation
 Carbon has the unique ability to form bonds with other atoms of carbon, giving
rise to large molecules. This property is called catenation
 These compounds may have long chains of carbon, branched chains of carbon or
even carbon atoms arranged in rings.
 Carbon atoms may be linked by single, double or triple bonds.
 Compounds of carbon, which are linked by only single bonds between the
carbon atoms are called saturated compounds.
 Compounds of carbon having double or triple bonds between their carbon atoms
are called unsaturated compounds.
 2. Tetravalency of carbon
 Carbon belongs to group 14 of periodic table. Its atomic number is 6 and the
electronic configuration is 2, 4.
 So, it is capable of bonding with four other atoms of carbon or atoms of some
other mono-valent element.
 Compounds of carbon are formed with oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen, Sulphur,
chlorine and many other elements giving rise to compounds with specific
properties which depend on the elements other than carbon present in the
molecule.
3. Size of carbon
 Carbon atom is smaller in size.
 This enables the nucleus to hold on to the shared pairs of electrons strongly.
 Hence the bonds that carbon forms with most other elements are very strong
making these compounds exceptionally stable.
 The bonds formed by elements having bigger atoms are much weaker.

Organic compounds
An organic compound is a member of a class of chemicals containing carbon atoms bound to
one another and to other atoms by covalent bonds.

Hydrocarbons
The organic compounds which are majorly made of hydrogen and carbon atoms.
Hydrocarbons can be classified as:
 Saturated hydrocarbons
 Unsaturated hydrocarbons
Saturated Hydrocarbons
 Hydrocarbons in which all the carbon atoms are linked by only single covalent bonds in
between them are called saturated compounds.
 Saturated compounds are also known as alkanes or paraffins.
 The general formula of these compounds are CnH2n+2

Name of alkane Number of carbon Molecular
(Saturated hydrocarbon) atom Formula
1.Methane 1 CH4
2.Ethane 2 C2H6
3.Propane 3 C3H8
4.Butane 4 C4H10
5.Pentane 5 C5H12
 Methane

 Ethane
Unsaturated Hydrocarbon
The hydrocarbons in which at least one double or triple bond is present along with single bonds
are called unsaturated compounds. They are further divided into following:
1. Alkenes(Olefins)
 Those unsaturated hydrocarbons which have at least one double bond along
with single bonds are called alkenes.
 General formula of these compounds are CnH2n.

Name of alkane Number of carbon Molecular
(Saturated atom Formula
hydrocarbon)
1.Ethene 2 C2H4
2.Propene 3 C3H6
3.Butene 4 C4H8
4.Pentene 5 C5H10
5.Hexene 6 C6H12

 Ethene
2. Alkynes
 Those unsaturated hydrocarbon which have one or more triple bonds along with
the single bonds are called alkynes.
 General formula of these compounds are CnH2n-2.
 Name of alkyne Number of Molecular
(Saturated carbon atom Formula
hydrocarbon)
1.Ethyne 2 C2H2
2.Propyne 3 C3H4
3.Butyne 4 C4H6
4.Pentyne 5 C5H8
5.Hexyne 6 C6H10

 Ethyne
Cyclic Hydrocarbons
Hydrocarbons in which the carbon atoms are arranged in the form of a ring are called cyclic
hydrocarbons.
There are two types of cyclic hydrocarbon:-
1. Saturated cyclic hydrocarbon(Single bond)
 2. Unsaturated cyclic hydrocarbon:-
Benzene (C6H6)

How to name organic compounds using the IUPAC rules

Rules
1. Identify the longest carbon chain. This chain is called the parent chain.
2. Identify all of the substituents (groups appending from the parent chain).
3. Number the carbons of the parent chain from the end that gives the
substituents the lowest numbers. If two or more side chains are in
equivalent positions, assign the lowest number to the one which will come
first in the name.
4. If the same substituent occurs more than once, the location of each point
on which the substituent occurs is given. In addition, the number of times
the substituent group occurs is indicated by a prefix (di, tri, tetra, etc.).
ISOMERS
Compounds having the same molecular formula but different structural formula and properties
are known as Isomers and this phenomenon is known as Isomerism.

 Isomerism is not possible in the first 3 alkanes primarily because branching is not
possible from the first or the last carbon atom of the structure.
 Eg:-
Butane

Pentane
 Hexane

Homologous series
A series of similarly constitute compounds in which the members present have the same
functional group and similar chemical properties and any to successive members
In a series differ in their molecular formula by a CH2 unit.
Eg:-Members of alkane (Methane CH4, Ethane C2H6, Propane C3H8…….)
Characteristics of Homologous series.

1. It can be represented by the same general formula.

2. It have the same functional group.

3. The successive members differ in their molecular formula by --CH 2-- group, they differ
in molecular weight by 14 units.

4. It can be prepared by similar chemical methods.

5. They show similar chemical properties.

6. They show graduation in physical properties such as melting point, boiling point,
density or solubility.
 Melting point and boiling point is directly proportional with molecular mass.
 Solubility is inversely proportional to molecular mass.

Functional Groups
Functional group is an ‘atom’ or ‘a group of atoms’ which makes a carbon compound (or
organic compound) reactive and decides its properties (or functions).