Organic Compounds

An organic compound is a chemical containing carbon. However there are some exceptions such as carbides, carbonates and simple oxides of carbon which contain carbon, but considered as inorganic compounds. Organic chemistry is the study of organic compounds. In this topic you will be studying about the nature of carbon, structural isomerism and types of structural isomerism and homologous series.

Structural isomerism

Structural isomerism is a phenomena commonly seen in carbon compounds and is due to difference in the arrangement of atoms or groups of atoms.

Nomenclature of Organic Compounds

Nomenclature is the system of assigning a name to a compound. Naming systems are classified in to two and they are:

Common or trivial system

International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) system

Trivial system: Nomenclature is based on the source and specific  properties of organic compounds.

IUPAC: A more systematic approach where the compound name and its molecular structure are correlated. This nomenclature defines a set of rules and derives a unique name for compounds. Accordingly, each organic compound consists of a root word, a prefix and a suffix.

Hydrocarbons

Hydrocarbons are compounds that consist of only hydrogen and carbon.

Hydrocarbons are broadly classified into two main groups, namely:

        •  Open chain hydrocarbons

        •  Closed chain or cyclic hydrocarbons

Alkanes

Alkenes

Alkynes

Alcohols

Carboxylic Acid