Organic Chemistry

KEY POINTS:

• Organic chemistry is concerned with compounds containing carbon. All life on earth is carbon based, largely thanks to carbon’s ability to form four very strong covalent bonds. As a result the large biomolecules that compose the majority of living organisms (proteins, lipids, carbohydrates, DNA) are based on a backbone of carbon.
• Organic chemistry is about families of compounds – the alkanes, alkenes, alcohols, halogenoalkanes, aldehydes, ketones, carboxylic acids… to name but a few.
• Naming organic compounds can appear daunting to begin with but it is actually very logical and straightforward. Some compounds are still referred to by their historical names e.g. acetic acid instead of ethanoic acid, however all educational institutions use the IUPAC (International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry) rules for naming.
• All members of the same family share certain characteristics, i.e. functional groups. For example, the alcohols all contain an –OH grouping. It is the functional group that determines the reaction that the compounds will undergo. As long as you can identify the functional groups, you will be able to predict how the compounds will react.
• Having comprehensive background knowledge of organic reactions allows synthetic pathways to become apparent – a crucial skill in the pharmaceutical industry. The change in just one functional group of a compound can lead to a whole new range of further possibilities to explore in terms of reactivity and pharmacological action.