Carbon
The key role of carbon
Carbon is one of the most abundant elements on Earth. All
known life forms contain atoms of carbon, which is the
second most copious element by mass after oxygen in the
human body.
Understanding functional groups and organic
families
The principles of chemistry apply to both living organisms and
non-living matter alike but organic and inorganic compounds
differ in many respects.
These and other elements are normally bonded to carbon by
covalent bonds as opposed to ionic bonds which are
characteristic of inorganic compounds.
Functional groups
A functional group is an arrangement of atoms that is responsible for certain characteristics and chemical
properties of a compound.
Some common functional groups are:
•hydroxyl (OH): in alcohols and phenols
•carboxyl (COOH): in carboxylic acids
•carbonyl (CO): in aldehydes, ketones and quinines
•nitro (NO2): in organic nitrogen compounds.
Organic families
All organic compounds including the same functional group form an organic family and share similar
characteristics. Any organic compound that contains a hydroxyl group is
called an ‘alcohol’.
