Basics of Organic Chemistry

Organic compounds are carbon compounds and the study of chemistry of carbon compounds is called organic chemistry. Organic compounds contain Carbon, Hydrogen, essentially and Oxygen, Nitrogen, Sulphur, Phosphorus, Halogen frequently.

Carbon is tetravalent as it contains four unpaired electrons in its excited state configuration. Natural sources of organic compounds are coal, petroleum, natural gas, animals and plants.

Open chain compounds: Carbon atoms are linked to one another to form straight chains or branched ones but not rings. Open chain compounds are also called aliphatic compounds. Examples: Alkanes, alkenes, alkynes and their derivatives.

Cyclic compounds: Carbon atoms are linked to one another to form ring. Based on the number of rings, they may be monocyclic or polycyclic.

Aromatic: The ring compounds which resemble benzene in structure and properties are called aromatic compounds.