Organic and
Biochem, Part 1
SOL Objective CH. 6
SOL CH. 6
 Not really a separate objective. CH = chemistry,
not chapter.
 This year, we will have an Organic Chemistry and
Biochemistry “flavor” from time to time.
 Organic = any compound which contains carbon.
Organic compounds usually also contain H and
some combination of O, N, S, P, Cl and other
elements.
 Biochem = study of organic compounds which
appear in living things.
Organic Products
 Many of you probably buy organic products
from grocery stores (I do too sometimes).
 This means something different from Organic
Chemistry.
 Organic products do not use chemical
fertilizers or pesticides or irradiation (used to
prevent onions and potatoes from sprouting) or
chemical additives (to enhance taste or
appearance).
Organic Products ≠
Organic Chemistry
 Many people prefer organic products for lots
of reasons. People think they are eating
healthier and not putting “chemicals” into
their body by using organic products.
 However, scientific evidence (so far) proves
that there is little difference in organic produce
in terms of taste, safety and nutritional value
compared to “non-organic produced” food.
Organic Chemistry
 All produce (organic or not) are composed of
organic chemicals. This includes most foods
and drinks you consume.
 So are all pharmaceuticals (medicines and
drugs), plastics, and many products you use
and wear everyday.
 Some organic chemicals are poisonous (toxic)
or carcinogenic (cause cancer potentially), but
many are tasty and even vital for life.
Organic Compounds
 All organic compounds contain C.
 However, not all organic compounds come
from nature or living things.
 But some do.
 For example, some medicines come from
natural products. Some medicines were
created by scientists in a lab.
Natural vs Synthetic
 Penicillin was originally isolated from a fungus
and found to have antibiotic (kills bacteria)
properties. However, the demand for penicillin
soon outgrew the ability to get it from fungi
and organic chemists figured out how to
synthesize penicillin in the lab.
 Regardless of whether it is found in nature or
synthesized in a lab, all penicillin must have
the same properties and be exactly the same in
every way.
Important Pharmaceuticals
 Think medicine. Pharmaceuticals are any
chemical substances used for the diagnosis, cure,
treatment or prevention of disease.
 Common pharmaceuticals you should know
 Aspirin
 Vitamins
 Insulin
 All of the above are organic chemicals.
 All of the above can occur naturally or can be
synthesized in the lab.
Aspirin
 Aspirin occurs naturally in willow tree bark.
 Hippocrates (father of modern medicine) was
known to make a powder of willow bark and
leaves to cure headaches and fevers as early as 400
BC.
 Aspirin was first isolated chemically in Germany
in 1897 at Bayer, a chemical company.
 Aspirin is quite easy to make in the lab. Many
pharmaceutical products are very difficult to
make.
Inorganic Chemistry
 All chemicals which do not contain carbon are
inorganic.
 Additionally, some compounds which do contain
carbon are NOT organic. Examples include:
 Carbides (metals bonded to carbon)
 Carbonates
 Carbon dioxide (CO2)
 Note that although water is VITAL to human life,
water (H2O) is an inorganic compound, because it
doesn’t contain any carbon.
5 Branches of Chemistry
 Inorganic Chemistry is the study of compounds which
do not contain C.
 Organic Chemistry is the study of compounds which
DO contain C.
 Biochemistry is the study of chemical processes which
exist in living organisms.
 Analytical Chemistry is the study of the separation of
mixtures of compounds and identifying and quantifying
those compounds.
 Physical Chemistry is the study of physics as it applies
to chemical systems at the atomic and molecular level.
-C-C-C-C-C-C-C-C Carbon has some unique properties which
organic chemistry is based upon.
 It can form long chains (or rings) by bonding
to other carbons.
 Each C forms 4 bonds. In addition to bonding
to other carbons, carbon’s unique size as a
Period 2 element allows it to form strong
bonds with H and O and N and many other
elements.
-C-C-C-C-C-C-C-C This ability to form long chains allows carbon
to bond with itself to produce literally millions
of unique compounds.
 C can also form double and triple bonds with
other C atoms.
 Additionally, C can form double bonds with O.
 C can form triple bonds with N.
Hydrocarbons
 The simplest organic compounds are called
hydrocarbons.
 These compounds ONLY contain C and H.
 Hydrocarbons are also called “fossil fuels”
(because they come from decomposed living
things) and “petrochemicals” (because they are
found in petroleum).
 Petroleum is a mixture of hydrocarbons found in
geologic formations beneath the Earth’s surface.
HC = Hydrocarbons
 Petroleum (also known as crude oil) is
separated through a physical process called
distillation.
 In distillation, you boil a mixture of
hydrocarbons. Since each hydrocarbon has a
unique boiling point, they can be separated
from each other in this way.
 The simplest HC is methane. Methane’s
formula is CH4. Learn this!
Methane
 Methane boils at 90K. Since room temp =
298K, it is obviously a gas at room temp.
 It is also called “natural gas.”
 It comes out of the gas jets when we do labs
which require a Bunsen burner.
 The temp of a Bunsen burner flame is about
1,500 - 2,000°C.
Other Distillation Products
 Gases from Petroleum
 Ethane, C2H6, used primarily to produce ethene
(also known as ethylene) which is used to produce
plastics, such as polyethylene, and is also used
force the ripening of fruit.
 Propane, C3H8, also known as LP gas (liquified
petroleum), can be stored as a liquid at low
pressures. Used as fuel for gas grills.
 Butane, C4H10, can also be liquified easily at low
pressures. Used as fuel in cigarette lighters.
Other Distillation Products
 Liquids from Petroleum
 Gasoline (primarily octane, C8H18, but contains
HC with 5-12 carbons).
 Kerosene (contains HC with 12-16 carbons).
Used for lamps, stoves and portable heaters.
 Fuel Oil (contains HC with 15-18 carbons). Used
for heating houses. Also used in diesel engines.
 Lubricating Oil (contains HC with 16-20 carbons).
Use as motor oil in car engines.
Other Distillation Products
 Solids from Petroleum
 Residue (solids remaining with > 20 carbons
after distillation); used to make asphalt.
 Paraffin wax (20-40 carbons). Has a variety of
uses, but used to make candles which burn at a
very low temp (40-50°C). It is white and
odorless and tasteless. James Chadwick used it
in experiments to identify the neutron.
 Liquid paraffin is called mineral oil.
Wait! What? Wax was used
to discover the neutron?
 Chadwick in 1932 usedαparticles (emitted
from radioactive Po) and bombarded Be.
 Beryllium emitted neutrons during this
experiment, but they were hard to detect,
because they have no charge.
 He put some paraffin in the path of these new
particles. They hit the paraffin and knocked
out some protons (hydrogen ions).
Wax. Seriously.
 Protons have a positive charge and were much easier to
detect. Obviously something had to hit it which had
enough mass and force to knock the protons loose.
 He figured out that the neutron had a little more mass
than the proton.
 Since it had no charge, the particles didn’t repel when it
got close to the positively charged nucleus, and
therefore, nothing slowed it down until it collided with
the H which it then knocked out of the wax.
 We will talk about this more in Unit 2 also (and it might
make more sense then too).
Types of HC
 Alkanes: only contain C-C single bonds. Known
as saturated HC. It is saturated because it has the
maximum number of hydrogens bonded to the
carbons.
 Alkenes: contains at least 1 C=C double bond.
 Alkynes: contains at least 1 CΞC triple bond.
 Alkenes and alkynes are unsaturated HC, because
more H could be bonded to the C atoms.
Reactivity of HC
 The structure of the molecule helps determine
the properties of the compound. All alkanes
react the same, but they react differently
compared to alkenes or alkynes.
 Alkynes are MOST reactive.
 Alkanes are least reactive.
 That means alkenes are somewhere in the
middle.
Reactivity of HC
 From this you can extend your knowledge and
predict
 that triple bonds are more reactive than double
bonds
 and double bonds are more reactive than single
bonds.
 We will talk about WHY this is the case in later
units.
Polymers
 Large molecule composed of repeating units
of simple molecules (called monomers).
 Think about Legos. Each block is a monomer.
When you hook a bunch of blocks together,
you get a large chain (the polymer).
 There are two types of polymers (more on this
in a later unit).
 Addition
 Condensation
Polymers
 Natural Polymers


Proteins (monomer = amino acids)

Starch and Cellulose (monomer = sugar molecules)

DNA and RNA (monomer = purine and pyrimidine bases)
Synthetic Polymers
 Plastics
 polyethylene (PE) also known as polythene
 polyvinylchloride (PVC)
 polystyrene also known as Styrofoam
 Sodium polyacrylate (the absorbent polymer in Huggies diapers)

Fibers (nylon, rayon, polyester)

Kevlar

Teflon (polytetrafluoroethylene)
The End
What Did you Learn?