1. Jeff Venables Northwestern High School
CHEMISTRY 1 Honors
Organic Chemistry
Jeff Venables Northwestern High School

2. Carbon
C atoms form covalent bonds with one another, and with H,O,N,Cl, and other nonmetals.
There are MANY organic compounds
C atoms each form 4 bonds
C atoms can make chains
Allotropes of carbon:
Diamond – covalent network solid
All C atoms are bonded to 4 other C atoms, making one big molecule of carbon.
All C atoms have a tetrahedral shape with 109° angles.
Hardest substance known

3. Graphite – Layers of hexagonal patterns.
Within each layer, every C atom is bonded to three other C atoms (trigonal planar, 120°).
Layers “slide” past one another – held together by London Dispersion Forces.
Used in pencil “lead” and in lubricants.

4. Organic Compounds Hydrocarbons – composed only of hydrogen and carbon.
All Carbon atoms have 4 bonds, hydrogen atoms have 1 bond.
Alkanes – also called saturated hydrocarbons
All single bonds
Formula is CnH2n+2
Named based on number of carbon atoms:
1 = methane 6 = hexane
2 = ethane 7 = heptane
3 = propane 8 = octane
4 = butane 9 = nonane
5 = pentane 10 = decane

5. Types of Formulas:
Empirical – shows the lowest whole-number ratio of atoms in a molecule (C2H5)
Molecular – shows the actual number of atoms of each element in a molecule (C4H10)
Structural – shows how atoms are connected in a molecule.
4. Condensed – structural formula with bonds omitted:
CH3CH2CH2CH3 or CH3(CH2)2CH3
5. Skeletal – all letters are removed:

6. Hexane

7. Examples – Name the following compounds:
C5H12
pentane
C7H16
heptane