What are Carbon Compounds?

Carbon compounds are present everywhere in the food that we eat, the clothes that we wear and even in the lead of
the pencil by which we write. The atomic number of carbon is 6 and the atomic mass is 12.01gmol-1. Carbon is a
member of the 14th group. According to the data, it is the seventeenth most abundant element found on earth.
Carbon: Unique Among the Elements

Two scientists may be singled out for their important contributions to our understanding of carbon and its compounds.

1. Friedrich August Kekule von Stradonitz - was a German organic chemist. He proposed that carbon forms four
covalent bonds. He also postulated that carbon atoms bond to each other, forming long chains of such atoms.

2. Jacobus van’t Hoff – proposed that in compounds carbon forms a tetrahedral structure, with the carbon atom at the
center of the tetrahedron. It is a testament to the great insight of these scientists that their predictions, made over 50
years before techniques and instrumentation were available to verify them.

Hydrocarbon is a compound consisting of only hydrogen and carbon.

The carbon to carbon can be single, double, or triple bonds. The bonds are always nonpolar.
• Saturated hydrocarbons – contain a single bond.
• Unsaturated hydrocarbons – contain a double and triple bond.

Classification of Hydrocarbons

Unsaturated Unsaturated

Types of Structural Formula

Carbon-to-carbon chains can be:
(A) Straight
(B) Branched
(C) in a closed ring. (Some carbon bonds are drawn longer, but are actually the same length.)

A. molecular formula describes the numbers of different kinds of atoms in a molecule

B. structural formula represents a two-dimensional model of how the atoms are bonded to
each other. Each dash represents a bonding pair of electrons.

 Alkanes - are hydrocarbons with only single bonds. Alkanes occur in what is called a
homologous series.
• Each successive compound differs from the one before it only by a CH2

Rules in Naming alkanes:

1. Identify the longest continuous chain.

2. The locations or other groups of atoms attached to the longest chain are identified and numbered by counting from
the end of the molecule which keeps the numbering system as low as possible.

3. Hydrocarbon groups that are attached to the longest continuous chain and named using the parent name and
changing the –ane suffix to –yl.
Prefixes: 1- meth 6-hex
2- eth 7-hept
3-prop 8-oct
4-but 9-non
5-pent 10-dec

4. In some organic compounds, we find the same group occurring more than once on a carbon chain. In this case, we
use a prefix to indicate how often the same group occurs.

5. Sometimes, we find non-alkyl groups attached to carbon atoms. Quite often these will be halogens – Cl, Br, I and F.
These are also named from their position along the carbon chain as in the following example.

 Compounds that have the same molecular formula, but different structures (arrangements of the atoms) are
called isomers.