Chemistry

Carbon and its Compounds

All living structures are carbon based. The amount of carbon present in the earth’s crust & in the atmosphere is
meagre. The earth’s crust has only 0.02% carbon in the form of minerals (like carbonates, hydrogen carbonates, coal,
petroleum) & the atmosphere has 0.03% of carbon dioxide. In spite of this small amount of carbon available in nature,
the importance of carbon is immense

Bonding in Carbon - Covalent Bonds

melting points & boiling points of some compounds of carbon

compound melting point (K) boiling point (K)

acetic acid (𝐶𝐻3𝐶𝑂𝑂𝐻) 290 391

chloroform (𝐶𝐻𝐶𝑙3) 209 334

ethanol (𝐶𝐻3𝐶𝐻2𝑂𝐻) 156 351

methane 𝐶𝐻4 90 111

Ionic compounds have high melting & boiling points & conduct electricity in solution / in the molten state. The carbon
compounds have low melting & boiling points compared to ionic compounds. The forces of attraction between the
molecules are relatively weak

Most carbon compounds are poor conductors of electricity. Since these compounds are largely non-conductors of
electricity, the bonding in these compounds don’t give rise to any ions

reactivity of elements - tendency to attain a completely filled outer shell / attain noble gas configuration

covalent bonds - bonds formed by the sharing of an electron pair between 2 atoms. Covalently bonded molecules
are seen to have strong bonds within the molecule, but intermolecular forces are weak, which gives rise to the low
melting & boiling points of these compounds. Since the electrons are shared between atoms & no charged particles
are formed, such covalent compounds are generally poor conductors of electricity

Carbon is tetravalent. Elements forming ionic compounds achieve this by either gaining / losing electrons from the
outermost shell. In the case of carbon, it has 4 electrons in its outermost shell & needs to gain / lose 4 electrons to
attain noble gas configuration

Carbon could
4−
○ gain 4 electrons forming 𝐶 anion, but it would be difficult for the nucleus with 6 protons to hold on to 10
electrons (4 extra electrons)
4+
○ lose 4 electrons forming 𝐶 cation, but it would require a large amount of energy to remove 4 electrons
leaving behind a carbon cation with 6 protons in its nucleus holding on to just 2 electrons

Therefore, it shares its valence electrons with other atoms of carbon / atoms of other elements. The shared electrons
‘belong’ to the outermost shells of both the atoms & lead to both atoms attaining the noble gas configuration
 The simplest molecule formed in this manner is that of hydrogen. The
atomic number of hydrogen is 1 (has 1 electron in its K shell & requires one
more electron to fill the shell). 2 hydrogen atoms share their electrons to
form a molecule of hydrogen, 𝐻2 . This allows each hydrogen atom to attain
the electronic configuration of the nearest noble gas, helium, which has
two electrons in its K shell

Chlorine’s atomic number is 17 & it forms a diatomic molecule, 𝐶𝑙2

In the case of oxygen, there’s a formation of a double bond between 2 oxygen

atoms. Since an oxygen atom has 6 electrons in its L shell (atomic number -> 8), it
requires 2 more electrons to complete its octet. Each atom of oxygen shares 2
electrons with another atom of oxygen. The 2 electrons contributed by each oxygen
atom gives rise to 2 shared pairs of electrons, constituting a double bond between
the 2 atoms

1 oxygen atom & 2 hydrogen atoms form a single covalent bond to form water. The molecules have single bonds. The
valency of oxygen is 2, requiring 2 hydrogen atoms of valency 1 to achieve its octet state

In order to attain an octet, nitrogen (atomic number -> 7) contributes 3 electrons

giving rise to 3 shared pairs of electrons, constituting a triple bond between the
pairs of electrons

A molecule of ammonia has the formula 𝑁𝐻3 , with 1 nitrogen atom & 3 hydrogen atoms forming a single covalent
bond. The valency of nitrogen is 3, requiring 3 hydrogen atoms of valency 1 to achieve its octet state

methane, one of the simplest compounds formed by carbon, is widely used as a fuel & is a
major component of bio-gas & Compressed Natural Gas (CNG). In order to achieve noble
gas configuration, carbon shares these electrons with four atoms of hydrogen
 Versatile Nature of Carbon
the nature of the covalent bond allows carbon to form a large number of compounds
○ catenation / self-linking - carbon’s unique ability to form bonds with other atoms of carbon

These compounds may have long chains / branched chains / rings of carbon atoms, linked by single / double
/ triple bonds

saturated compounds - compounds of carbon linked by only single bonds between the carbon atoms

unsaturated compounds - compounds of carbon having double / triple bonds between the carbon atoms &
are more reactive than saturated compounds

No other element exhibits the catenation to the extent seen in carbon compounds. Silicon forms compounds
with hydrogen which have chains of upto 7 / 8 atoms, but these compounds are very reactive. The
carbon-carbon bond is strong & hence, stable, which gives us a large number of compounds with many
carbon atoms linked to each other
 ○ tetravalency

Since carbon has a valency of 4, it’s capable of bonding with 4 other atoms of carbon / other mono-valent
element. Compounds of carbon are formed with oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen, sulphur, chlorine, etc. giving rise
to compounds with specific properties which depend on the elements other than carbon present in the
molecule

The bonds that carbon forms with most other elements are stable. One reason for the formation of strong
bonds by carbon is its small size which enables the nucleus to hold on to the shared pairs of electrons
strongly. The bonds formed by elements having bigger atoms are much weaker

✽ Naming hydrocarbons
hydrocarbons - carbon compounds which contain only carbon & hydrogen

word root (depends on the number of carbon atoms in that hydrocarbon) + primary suffix (depends on the nature of
bond between the carbon atoms)

number of carbon atoms word root

1 meth-

2 eth-

3 prop-

4 but-

5 pent-

6 hex-

7 hept- / sept-

8 oct-

9 non-

10 dec-
 nature of bonding primary suffix

alkane (single bond) -ane

alkene (double bond) -ene

alkyne (triple bond) -yne

✽ Chains, Branches & Rings

Alkanes
saturated carbons

general formula - 𝐶 𝐻2𝑛 + 𝑛 (n = no. of C atoms)

𝑛

no. of C atoms name formula structure

1 methane 𝐶𝐻4

2 ethane 𝐶2𝐻6

3 propane 𝐶3𝐻8

4 butane 𝐶4𝐻10

5 pentane 𝐶5𝐻12

6 hexane 𝐶6𝐻14
Alkenes
unsaturated hydrocarbons which contain 1 or more double bonds

general formula - 𝐶 𝐻2𝑛 (less hydrogen due to the double bond between carbons)
𝑛

methene would be 𝐶𝐻2 but this doesn’t exist as hydrogen is monovalent & carbon is tetravalent, requiring 4 hydrogen
atoms to achieve an octet state

no. of C atoms name formula structure

2 ethene 𝐶2𝐻4

3 propene 𝐶3𝐻6

4 butene 𝐶4𝐻8

5 pentene 𝐶5𝐻10

6 hexene 𝐶6𝐻12

Alkyne
unsaturated hydrocarbons containing 1 or more triple bonds

general formula - 𝐶 𝐻2𝑛 − 2 (less hydrogen due to the triple bond between carbons)
𝑛

methene would be 𝐶 but this doesn’t exist as it’s a singular C atom

formulae & structures of unsaturated compounds of carbon & hydrogen

no. of C atoms name formula structure

2 ethyne 𝐶2𝐻2

3 propyne 𝐶3𝐻4
 4 butyne 𝐶4𝐻6

5 pentyne 𝐶5𝐻8

6 hexyne 𝐶6𝐻10

✽ Homologous series
homologous series - a series of compounds in which the same functional group substitutes for hydrogen in a carbon
chain

The presence of a functional group such as alcohol decides the properties of the carbon compound, regardless of the
length of the carbon chain

ex. the chemical properties of 𝐶𝐻 𝑂𝐻, 𝐶2𝐻5𝑂𝐻, 𝐶3𝐻7𝑂𝐻 & 𝐶4𝐻9𝑂𝐻 are all similar
3

looking at the formula of successive compounds -

𝐶𝐻4 & 𝐶2𝐻6 - differ by a − 𝐶𝐻2 unit

𝐶2𝐻6 & 𝐶3𝐻8 - differ by a − 𝐶𝐻2 unit, and so on

the difference in atomic mass between these pairs is 14 u (12 u + 2 x 1 u)

As the molecular mass increases in any homologous series, a gradation in physical properties is seen because the
melting & boiling points increase with increasing molecular mass. Other physical properties such as solubility in a
particular solvent also show a similar gradation, but the chemical properties, which are determined solely by the
functional group, remain similar in a homologous series