Organic Chemistry – Midterm Reviewer

Chapter 1 : Lecture 0
Lecture Objectives:
1. Apply concepts from general chemistry that are essential for success in organic
chemistry, such as the electronic structure of the atom, Lewis structures
and the octet rule, types of bonding, electronegativity, and formal charges.
2. Predict patterns of covalent and ionic bonding involving C, H, O, N, and the halogens.
3. Identify resonance-stabilized structures and compare the relative importance of their
resonance forms.
4. Draw and interpret the types of structural formulas commonly used in organic
chemistry, including condensed structural formulas and line–angle formulas.
5. Predict the hybridization and geometry of organic
molecules based on their bonding.
6. Identify isomers and explain the differences between them.

The Origins of Organic Chemistry

Organic = “derived from living organisms”
Vitalism = the belief that natural products needed a “vital force” to create them
Organic chemistry, then, was the study of compounds having the vital force.
Inorganic chemistry was the study of gases, rocks, and minerals, and the compounds
that could be made from them.

Friedrich Wöhler (1828)

 Tried to synthesize urea using ammonium cyanate (an inorganic compound)

 Urea (CH4N2OCH4N2O),
-a naturally occurring molecule that is produced by protein metabolism and
found abundantly in mammalian urine
-also popularly known as
Carbamide, is the diamide form of carbonic acid.
-widely used as a fertilizer, a feed supplement,
and a starting material in the manufacture of drugs
and plastics.
 The conversion of ammonium cyanate into urea is called Wöhler synthesis.
This chemical reaction is often cited as the starting point of modern organic
chemistry, as it disproved the concept of vitalism.

Note: natural occurring and synthesize urea may came from different source, but
they are completely the same in terms of molecule and compound.
Are all carbon-containing compounds considered organic?
-No. Not all carbon-based molecules are organic. Some, such as carbon dioxide (or
CO2), can be “inorganic.” The lack of hydrogen is why many chemists classify carbon
dioxide this way. To be “organic,” these chemists argue, a molecule must combine its
carbon with some hydrogens.
In simple terms, Compounds of carbon are classified as organic when carbon is
bound to hydrogen.

Inorganic carbon-
containing substances:

Diamond, graphite, carbon-dioxide, and sodium carbonates are derived from minerals
and have typical inorganic properties.

Difference Between Organic and Inorganic Compounds

S.no Organic Compounds Inorganic Compounds

1 Organic compounds are Most inorganic compounds do not have

characterized by the presence of carbon atoms in them (some exceptions do
carbon atoms in them exist)

2 Organic compounds consisting of They do not possess hydrogen or oxygen,

hydrogen, oxygen, carbon, and their and their derivatives
other derivatives

3 Organic compounds are said to be These compounds are not inflammable and
more volatile and also highly are non-volatile in nature
inflammable

4 These compounds exist in the form These exist as solids

of solids, gases, and liquids.

5 These are insoluble in water These are soluble in water and also non-
soluble in some of the organic solutions

6 These compounds have the carbon- These do not have the carbon-hydrogen
hydrogen bonds bonds
 7 Organic compounds are mainly found These compounds are found in non-living
in most of the living things things

8 Organic compounds form covalent Inorganic compounds form ionic bonds

bonds between the atoms of molecules

9 In most of the aqueous solutions, In aqueous solutions, these are known to be

these are poor conductors of heat good conductors of heat and electricity
and electricity

10 Examples of organic compounds Example for inorganic compounds includes

include fats, nucleic acids, sugars, non-metals, salts, metals, acids, bases, and
enzymes, proteins and hydrocarbon substances which are made from single
fuels elements

11 These are biological and more These are of mineral and not much
complex in nature complexity in nature

12 Organic compounds cannot make Inorganic compounds can make salts

salts

13 The rate of reaction is slow in organic Inorganic compounds have a high rate of
compounds reaction

Chapter 1 : Lecture 1
Lecture Objectives:
1. Apply concepts from general chemistry that are essential for success in organic
chemistry, such as the electronic structure of the atom, Lewis structures
and the octet rule, types of bonding, electronegativity, and formal charges.
2. Predict patterns of covalent and ionic bonding involving C, H, O, N, and the halogens.
3. Identify resonance-stabilized structures and compare the relative importance of their
resonance forms.
4. Draw and interpret the types of structural formulas commonly used in organic
chemistry, including condensed structural formulas and line–angle formulas.
5. Predict the hybridization and geometry of organic molecules based on their bonding.
6. Identify isomers and explain the differences between
them.
Number of protons and electrons → Chemical properties
Electrons → Bond and Structure
• Electrons that are bound to nuclei are found in orbitals.
• Orbitals are mathematical descriptions that chemists use to explain and predict
the properties of atoms and molecules.
• The valence electrons are those electrons in the outermost shell.
• The Heisenberg uncertainty principle states that we can never determine
exactly where the electron is; nevertheless, we can determine the electron
density, the probability of finding the electron in a particular part of the orbital.

• An orbital, then, is an allowed energy state for an electron, with an associated

probability function that defines the distribution of electron density in space.

How many electrons can be held in each orbital?

-According to the Pauli Exclusion Principle, each orbital can hold a maximum of two
electrons, provided that their spins are paired.

Bond Formation: The Octet Rule

• IONIC vs COVALENT BONDING