CHEMISTRY GUIDE

Topic 1.5 INTRODUCTION TO ORGANIC CHEMISTRY 1.         Carbon compounds Organic chemistry is the chemistry of carbon compounds. Carbon forms a vast number of compounds because it can form strong covalent bonds with itself. This enables it to form long chains (up to 5000 in length) of carbon atoms, and hence an almost infinite variety of carbon compounds are known. The tendency of identical atoms to form covalent bonds with each other and hence form chains is known as catenation. All organic compounds contain carbon. Most contain hydrogen. Carbon always forms four covalent bonds and hydrogen one. The physical and chemical properties of organic compounds depend on two factors: a)       The number and arrangement of carbon atoms in the molecule. A number of important physical properties are determined by th...