WEEK ONE: ORGANIC CHEMISTRY
A. Read the text and complete the tasks:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Define organic compounds.
What distinguishes organic chemistry from other disciplines?
Give three examples of substances whose principal component is carbon.
What has had a dire effect on the environment?
What presupposes our ability to create environmentally benign organic
compounds or molecules?
6. What is the scope of organic chemistry?
7. Define functional groups. List the functional groups you are aware of.
8. Which two properties of alkanes are mentioned in the text?
9. Look at the condensed formula of a chlorination reaction. How does it read?
10. What’s another name for cyclic alkanes?
11. Look at the structure of the cyclohexane. Name its functional group, bond type
and special arrangement.
12. How many types or organic reactions are stated by the author?
13. How many organic reactions do you know?
14. Look at the examples of a substitution and an elimination reaction. Define the
reactions based on the examples.
15. Classify the functional groups according to the chemical bonds that determine
their reactivity.
16. What popular misconception led to the existing definition of “organic”
chemistry? Who proved the inadequacy of the definition?
17. Which are the physical conditions that determine organic reactions?
18. Look again the chlorination reaction. Which are the substrates?
19. What details constitute a reaction mechanism?
20. Define a reaction intermediate. Compare and contrast with a substrate.
21. After reading the whole text, write a combined definition of organic chemistry.
B. Transformations: Rewrite the following sentences so that the meaning
remains the same. Bear in mind sentence clarity, avoid fragmented sentences and
use dangling modifiers appropriate if you have to use one.
1. Organic molecules constitute the very essence of life.
………………………………………………………………………………….
2. Proteins and nucleic acids are the principal components of carbon.
………………………………………………………………………………….
3. The uncontrolled disposal of organic chemicals has polluted the environment,
causing deterioration of animal and plant life.
………………………………………………………………………………….
………………………………………………………………………………….
4. We classify organic molecules according to the bonds that determine their
chemical reactivity.
………………………………………………………………………………….
5. Alkane bonds can be broken by heat, light, or chemical reagents.
………………………………………………………………………………….
6. These molecules exhibit stereoisomerism.
………………………………………………………………………………….
7. These substances include man that also occur in nature as penicillin and
antibiotics.
………………………………………………………………………………….
8. The goal of organic synthesis is to construct complex organic chemicals from
simpler ones.
………………………………………………………………………………….
9. The knowledge of physical conditions that govern organic reaction processes
is equally important in analyzing biological transformations.
………………………………………………………………………………….
………………………………………………………………………………….
10. We study how changes in substrate structure affect the outcome of the reaction.
………………………………………………………………………………….
SENTENCE FRAGMENTS
Fragments are incomplete sentences. Usually, fragments are pieces of sentences that
have become disconnected from the main clause. Below are some examples with the
fragments. Notice that the fragment is frequently a dependent clause or long phrase
that follows the main clause.
1. Fragment: UOC offers many majors in engineering. Such as electrical,
chemical, and industrial engineering.
Possible Revision:
2. Fragment: Coach Dietz exemplified this behavior by walking off the field in
the middle of a game. Leaving her team at a time when we needed her.
Possible Revision:
3. Fragment: I need to find a new roommate. Because the one I have now isn't
working out too well.
Possible Revision:
4. Fragment: The current city policy on housing is incomplete as it stands. Which
is why we believe the proposed amendments should be passed.
Possible Revision:
Some fragments are not clearly pieces of sentences that have been left unattached to
the main clause; they are written as main clauses but lack a subject or main verb.
No main verb
5. Fragment: A story with deep thoughts and emotions.
Possible Revisions:
Direct object: Appositive:
6. Fragment: Toys of all kinds thrown everywhere.
Possible Revisions:
Complete verb:
Direct object:
7. Fragment: A record of accomplishment beginning when you were first hired.
Possible Revisions:
Direct object:
Main verb:
No Subject
8. Fragment: With the ultimate effect of all advertising is to sell the product.
Possible Revisions:
Remove preposition:
9. Fragment: By paying too much attention to polls can make a political leader
unwilling to propose innovative policies.
Possible Revisions:
Remove preposition:
10. Fragment: For doing freelance work for a competitor got Phil fired.
Possible Revisions:
Remove preposition:
Rearrange:
These last three examples of fragments with no subjects start one way (often with a
long prepositional phrase) but end with a regular predicate. Usually the object of the
preposition (often a gerund, as in the last two examples) is intended as the subject of
the sentence, so removing the preposition at the beginning is usually the easiest way
to edit such errors.
STRATEGIES FOR IMPROVING THE CLARITY OF YOUR SENTENCES AND YOUR PAPERS
Go from old to new information
Every semester after final exams are over, I'm faced with the problem of what to do
with books of lecture notes (new information). They (old) might be useful some day,
but they just keep piling up on my bookcase (new). Someday, it (old) will collapse
under the weight of information I might never need.
Here is a sentence that is not as clear. It moves from new information to old
information: Lately, most movies I've seen have been merely second-rate
entertainment, but occasionally there are some with worthwhile themes. The rapid
disappearance of the Indian culture (new) is the topic of a recent movie (old) I saw.
A clearer version that moves from old information to new information might look like
this: Lately, most movies I've seen have been merely second-rate entertainment, but
occasionally there are some with worthwhile themes. One recent movie (old) I saw
was about the rapid disappearance of the Indian culture. (new)
Transitional words
Underline the transitional words in the following paragraph. Then read it again
without them: I like autumn, and yet autumn is a sad time of the year, too. The leaves
turn bright shades of red and the weather is mild, but I can't help thinking ahead to
the winter and the ice storms that will surely blow through here. In addition, that will
be the season of chapped faces, too many layers of clothes to put on, and days when
I'll have to shovel heaps of snow from my car's windshield.
Be careful about placement of subordinate clauses
Avoid interrupting the main clause with a subordinate clause if the interruption will
cause confusion: Which of the following sentences is a. clear (subordinate clause at
the end): b. clear (subordinate clause at the beginning): and c. not as clear
(subordinate clause embedded in the middle):



Industrial spying,because of the growing use of computers to store and
process corporate information, is increasing rapidly.
Industrial spying is increasing rapidly because of the growing use of
computers to store and process corporate information.
Because of the growing use of computers to store and process corporate
information, industrial spying is increasing rapidly.
Use active voice
Sentences in active voice are usually easier to understand than those in passive voice
because active-voice constructions indicate clearly the performer of the action
expressed in the verb.
Clear (active): The committee decided to postpone the vote.
Not as clear (passive): A decision was reached to postpone the vote.
Use parallel constructions
When you have a series of words, phrases, or clauses, put them in parallel form
(similar grammatical construction) so that the reader can identify the linking
relationship more easily and clearly.
clear (parallel): In Florida, where the threat of hurricanes is an annual event, we
learned that it is important (1) to become aware of the warning signs, (2) to know
what precautions to take, and (3) to decide when to seek shelter.
not as clear (not parallel): In Florida, where the threat of hurricanes is an annual
event, we learned that it is important (1) to become aware of the warning signs. (2)
There are precautions to take, and (3) deciding when to take shelter is important.
Avoid noun strings
Try not to string nouns together one after the other because a series of nouns is
difficult to understand. Better revise a string of nouns is to change one noun to a verb.
Unclear: This report explains our investment growth stimulation projects.
Clearer:
Avoid overusing noun forms of verbs
Use verbs when possible rather than noun forms known as "nominalizations."
Unclear: The implementation of the plan was successful.
Clearer:
Avoid multiple negatives
Use affirmative forms rather than several negatives because multiple negatives are
difficult to understand.
Unclear (multiple negatives, passive): Less attention is paid to commercials that lack
human interest stories than to other kinds of commercials.
Clearer:
Choose action verbs over forms of be
When possible, avoid using forms of be as the main verbs in your sentences and
clauses.
Unclear (overuse of be verbs): One difference between television news reporting and
the coverage provided by newspapers is the time factor between the actual happening
of an event and the time it takes to be reported. The problem is that instantaneous
coverage is physically impossible for newspapers.
Clearer: Television news reporting differs from that of newspapers in that television,
unlike newspapers, can provide instantaneous coverage of events as they happen.
Avoid unclear pronoun references
If the pronoun refers to a noun that has been implied but not stated, you can clarify the
reference by explicitly using that noun. This, that, these, those, he, she, it, they, and
we are useful pronouns for referring back to something previously mentioned.
Unclear (unclear pronoun reference): With the spread of globalized capitalism,
American universities increasingly follow a corporate fiscal model, tightening
budgets and hiring temporary contract employees as teachers. This has prompted
faculty and adjunct instructors at many schools to join unions as a way of protecting
job security and benefits.
Clearer:
DANGLING MODIFIERS
A dangling modifier is a word or phrase that modifies a word not clearly stated in the
sentence. A modifier describes, clarifies, or gives more detail about a concept. Which
sentence has an incorrect use?
Having finished the assignment, Jill turned on the TV.
Having finished the assignment, the TV was turned on.
STRATEGIES FOR REVISING DANGLING MODIFIERS:
1. Name the appropriate or logical doer of the action as the subject of the
main clause: Having arrived late for practice, a written excuse was needed.
Who arrived late? This sentence says that the written excuse arrived late. To revise,
decide who actually arrived late.
Revision:
2. Change the phrase that dangles into a complete introductory clause by naming
the doer of the action in that clause: Without knowing his name, it was difficult to
introduce him.
Revision:
3. Combine the phrase and main clause into one: To improve his results, the
experiment was done again. Who wanted to improve results?
Revision:
More examples of dangling modifiers and their revisions:
Incorrect: After reading the original study, the article remains unconvincing.
Revised:
Incorrect: Relieved of your responsibilities at your job, your home should be a place
to relax.
Revised:
Incorrect: The experiment was a failure, not having studied the lab manual carefully.
Revised:
Organic chemistry close
Organic chemistry is the study of the a)……………………... It is the single largest
branch of chemistry, and the one with the most direct impact on the daily lives of
most people in the world. In addition to the practical uses of organic compounds as
drugs, fuels, and industrial chemicals, the study of organic compounds provides new
information about b)…………………., and other processes unavailable from the
study of other types of compounds.
Why is carbon at the center of this vast field of study, rather than, say, sodium? The
answer is that carbon's c)…………………….allows it to form four bonds, and its size
and electronegativity mean these bonds will be primarily covalent or polar covalent,
rather than ionic. In addition, carbon normally has no d) ……………………….of
electrons in its compounds, preventing this kind of repulsion that makes nitrogen or
oxygen chains unstable.
The covalent character of carbon's bonds, even with such electronegative elements as
oxygen, means that its bonds continue to be highly e)……………………, unlike the
ionic bonds of sodium, for instance, which are equally strong in all directions. This
directionality gives the individual molecule its identity separate from other molecules,
allowing it to participate as a unit in the highly complex series of reactions found in
living organisms or in the modern chemistry laboratory.
The first organic compounds, and still the most complex, are those from living
organisms. Many useful compounds originally isolated from living organisms are now
made synthetically, yet others are either too complex or too expensive to synthesize,
and continue to be
f) .………………………. from the natural source.
The vast range of organic compounds arises from the addition of different atoms onto
a carbon skeleton. Hydrocarbons are compounds in which hydrogen is the only other
g) ………………. The simplest is h)………………., CH4. Larger hydrocarbons
include all the compounds used as gasoline and heating fuels, as well as
petrochemical-based waxes.
Substitution of a halogen such as chlorine for a hydrogen on a hydrocarbon creates a
new class of compounds, the alkyl halides. The halogen is called the i) ……………..
of this class, meaning it is the group that gives the class its characteristic properties.
The study of functional groups provide the theoretical framework for understanding
the reactions and behavior of the various classes of organic compounds. For instance,
a halide is an electronegative atom, which withdraws electrons from the carbon it is
bonded to. This leaves carbon with a partial positive charge, which will, in turn, serve
to attract negative groups during reactions. The j) …………………..nature of the
halides, then, strongly influences the chemical behaviour of the k) ……………..
compound. Compounds may have more than one functional group, which influence
the behaviour in different ways.
Other important functional groups include: OH, the hydroxyl group, which makes the
parent compound an l)……………….; O, which makes the compound an m)………;
C=O, the carbonyl group, which makes the compound an aldehyde if the group is on a
terminal carbon, or a ketone if it is between two carbons; COOH, the n) ……….
group, which makes the compound an acid; NH2, the amine group, which makes the
compound an amine; NH, the amide group, which makes the compound an amide;
C6H5, the phenyl group; and SH, the thiol group.
In addition, the chemistry of a compound is strongly affected by whether it is a
straight-chain molecule or a o) ……………. compound, and whether that is aliphatic
or aromatic.
The study of organic compounds includes the determination of the identity and
structure of existing compounds, the synthesis of new ones, and the determination of
the step-by-step mechanisms and other p)……………… of reactions.
Analysis is concerned with determining the structure and identity of a compound.
Molecular weight was once commonly determined through
q) …………
property analysis, but is now more likely to be done with a mass spectrometer.
Yet, structure determination is most often performed with spectroscopy. Infrared
spectroscopy is a principal tool for functional group analysis, while Nuclear Magentic
r) ………………spectroscopy gives detailed information on the position of hydrogens
and other atoms. X-ray crystallography can solve the three-dimensional structure,
especially important for larger compounds that could exist in any one of many
different conformations.
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Questions:
 Why carbon is the principal component of organic molecules?
 What organic compounds arise from the addition of different atoms onto a
carbon skeleton?
 Define a ring compound
 What information do we get from NMR?
Read the organic chemistry text and choose an appropriate phrase to complete
the gaps.
a) compounds of carbon
carbon reactions
the element of carbon
b) chemical solutions
chemical bonding
chemical conformation
c) electron affinity
electron spin
electron configuration
d) lone-pair
alone-pair
single-pair
e) directed
directive
directional
f) harvested
emerged
accumulated
g) trace
particle
atom
h) methane
ethane
methanol
i)
functioning group
functional group
operational group
j)
electron- withdrawing
electron-withdrawn
electron withdrawal
k) mother
relative
parent
l)
alcohol
ether
ketone
m) alcohol
ether
ketone
n) cycloalkane
carbon hydroxide
carboxylic acid
o) round
ring
circular
p) aspects
factors
parameters
q) colligative
coefficient
conjugation
r)
resonance
retention
refrigency
FUNCTIONAL GROUPS
A molecule's functional group is the chemically reactive portion, or segment, of an
organic chemical molecule. In this sense, the functional group determines most of a
compound's chemical (and some of its physical) properties. The functional group of
an alkene is its carbon-carbon double bond. The alkyne functional group is the
carbon-carbon triple bond. Alkanes, which contain carbon-carbon single bonds and
carbon-hydrogen bonds that are much less reactive than the other common functional
groups, are sometimes not considered to contain functional groups.
Functional groups characterize the various families of organic compounds, and the
naming conventions used in organic chemistry. For example, the functional group
common to the alcohols is the -OH, or hydroxyl group. The three molecules CH3-OH,
CH3-CH2-OH, and CH3-CH2-CH2-OH (known as methanol, ethanol, and 1-propanol,
respectively) share certain properties in common because they all contain this
functional group, despite there being a different number of carbon atoms in each
molecule. Other important functional groups are R-F, R-Cl, R-Br, and R-I (for the
alkyl halides); R-O-R' (for ethers); R-SH (for thiols, also known as mercaptans); RNH2, R2NH, and R3N (for amines); R-(C=O)-H (for aldehydes); R-(C=O)-R' (for
ketones); R-(C=O)-OH (for carboxylic acids); R-(C=O)-OR' (for carboxylic esters);
and R-(C=O)-NH2, R-(C=O)-NHR', and R-(C=O)-NR'R" (for amides). In these
examples, R represents any alkyl group.
More complex molecules may contain two or more functional groups. The amino
acids, for example, contain both amino and carboxyl groups. These biologically
important molecules form the building blocks from which large protein molecules are
formed.
Organic functional groups are the section of the organic molecule which controls the
reactivity of the molecule. For example, the presence of multiple bonds between
carbon atoms increases the molecule's reactivity. Functional groups undergo
characteristic reactions, these occur regardless of the size of the molecule. The
reactions of an organic compound are controlled largely by the functional group, or
groups, it contains. Several functional groups may be contained in any one molecule,
giving that molecule the properties of all of the functional groups present.
Molecules or atoms attached to functional groups act as modifiers of the functional
group and they alter such characteristics as boiling point and melting point of the
substance. The carbon-carbon single bonds and the carbon-hydrogen bonds are the
unreactive parts of the molecule. Normally the designating letter R is given to the
modifier, the alkyl group, including the carbon it is bonded to. So for example the
alcohol has a general formula of ROH. Where two or more alkyl groups are present
(e.g. an ether) the symbols R, R', R", etc. are used. These may be the same or different
molecules. An alkyl group is a straight chain molecule, but if the modifier is in the
form of a ring structure it is more properly called an aryl group. Homologous series
are produced for each functional group. These show slight changes in characteristics
as increasing numbers of carbon atoms are added as modifier groups.
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
Read the text and say whether the statements are true or false
a) The functional group monitors all the chemical properties of a
molecule.
b) The alkene functional group is carbon-carbon triple bond.
c) Carbon-hydrogen bonds are not as reactive as carbon-carbon bonds
d) A single functional group is contained in each molecule.
e) The size of the molecule determines the chemical reactions a molecule
goes through.
f) The alkyl group, R, functions as a modifier which changes the physical
characteristics of a molecule.

Read the text again and classify the functional groups and their carbon
bond.
Functional group
Naming convention

Condensed formula
Read the text and find synonyms of the following terms:
Many (reactions)
Selected; named; appointed
Go through (a reaction)
Despite
Similar or related in structure

Questions:
1. What chemical properties can a functional group determine?
2. What’s the naming convention of –OH?
3. What’s the impact of a modifier on a functional group?