Organic Chemistry Facts

A giant container containing butane, a colorless, flammable gas used for fuel.
All living things are made basically of carbon compounds.
Organic chemistry is the study of compounds that contain carbon atoms.
Over 90% of all chemical compounds are organic.
Organic chemicals are the basis of most life processes.
Scientists once thought carbon compounds could only be made by living things. However, in 1828 Friedrich Wohler made the compound urea in his laboratory.
By far the largest group of carbon compounds are the hydrocarbons.
Aliphatic organic compounds are formed from long or branching chains of carbon atoms. They include ethane, propane and paraffin, and the alkenes from which many polymers are made.
Cyclic organic compounds are formed from closed rings of carbon atoms.
Aromatics are made from a ring of six atoms (mostly carbon), with hydrogen atoms attached. They get their name from the strong aroma (smell) of benzene.
Benzene is the most important aromatic. Friedrich Kekulee von Stradowitz discovered benzene’s six-carbon ring structure in 1865, after dreaming about a snake biting its own tail.
Isomers are compounds with the same atoms but different properties. Butane and 2-methyl propane in bottled gas are isomers.

This entry is filed under Interesting Facts.