Transcript Organic Chemistry Basics

Organic
Chemistry
Basics
Chapter 3
Organic compounds
 Carbon
covalently bonded to each other
and other atoms
 Originally thought only found in living
things
 Wide diversity in compounds: more than 5
million have been identified
 Macromolecules: cells make large
molecules from smaller ones
Properties of Carbon
4
valence electrons = 4 covalent bonds
 Can form bonds with itself
 Carbon to carbon bonds are strong but
not unbreakable, making them good for
structural components
 Carbon can also form double and triple
bonds with itself
 Carbon can form straight or branched
chains as well as rings
Isomers
 Compounds
with the same molecular
formula but different structures
 Do not have identical physical or
chemical properties
 Three types:



Structural – different covalent arrangement
Geometric – different spatial arrangement
Enantiomers – mirror images of each other
Structural isomers
Geometric isomers
Enantiomers
Hydrocarbons
 Carbon
+ hydrogen
 Nonpolar
 Tend to be hydrophobic
 Hydrogen atoms can be replaced with a
functional group
 Polar and ionic functional groups are
hydrophilic
Functional groups
 Hydroxyl

Alcohols
 Carbonyl
bond




group: R-OH
ethanol
group: carbon to oxygen double
Aldehyde:
R-CHO (at end of C skeleton)
Ketone:
R-CO-R (internal carbonyl group)
Functional groups…
 Carboxyl
group: R-COOH
 Amino group: R-NH2

Both essential in amino acids
 Phosphate

Part of DNA backbone
 Sulfhydryl

group: R-PO4H2
group: R-SH
Thiols – important in proteins
Polymers

Formed by linking small organic molecules
together


Hydrolysis reactions (‘break with water’)


Breaks apart a polymer
Condensation reactions (‘remove water’)


Example: 20 different amino acids form
thousands of different proteins
Joins monomers into a polymer
In biological systems these are regulated by
different enzymes.