Organic compound

A chemical compound built around carbon, usually containing carbon–hydrogen bonds. The category generally excludes simple carbon compounds such as carbon dioxide, carbonates, and carbides.

Carbon: A chemical element whose atoms can form four covalent bonds and stable chains. Its bonding capacity lets organic compounds build varied structures.
Hybrid orbital: A mathematical combination of atomic orbitals used to describe bonding and molecular geometry. Hybridization accounts for common carbon geometries in organic molecules.
Polymer: A large molecule composed of repeating structural units linked into chains or networks. Many synthetic polymers are organic compounds engineered for useful material properties.
Vitalism: The doctrine that living organisms contain a special principle not found in inanimate matter. Vitalism once proposed that organic compounds required a distinct life-derived force.
Covalent bond: A chemical bond formed when atoms share pairs of electrons. Organic structures are held together chiefly by shared-electron bonds.
Electronegativity: A measure of an atom’s tendency to attract shared electrons in a chemical bond. Electronegativity differences help explain bond polarity and reactivity.
Pharmaceutical drug: A chemical substance used to prevent, diagnose, treat, or relieve disease. Most medicines are organic molecules designed to interact with biological targets.
Friedrich Wöhler: A German chemist whose 1828 synthesis of urea from inorganic starting materials challenged vitalism. His urea synthesis helped show that an organic compound could be made outside living organisms.
Hydrocarbon: An organic compound composed only of carbon and hydrogen. Hydrocarbons are the simplest major family of organic compounds.
Nucleophilic substitution: A reaction in which a nucleophile replaces a leaving group attached to an electrophilic atom. This reaction illustrates how organic molecules exchange bonded groups.

Linked from 15 pages