30-days Money-Back Guarantee
Comprehensive Overview of organic chemistry for aspiring engineers and medical professionals
Updated on Sep, 2026
Teaching and Academics , Science, Chemistry
Training 5 or more people ?
Get your team access to 10000+ top Tutorials Point courses anytime, anywhere.
In this unit, we have learnt some basic concepts about the structure and reactivity of organic compounds, which are formed due to covalent bonding. The nature of the covalent bonding in organic compounds can be described in terms of the orbitals hybridisation concept, according to which carbon can have sp3, sp2 and sp hybridised orbitals. The sp3, sp2 and sp hybridised carbons are found in compounds like methane, ethene and ethyne respectively. The tetrahedral shape of methane, planar shape of ethene and linear shape of ethyne can be understood on the basis of this concept. A sp3 hybrid orbital can overlap with the 1s orbital of hydrogen to give a carbon-hydrogen (C–H) single bond (sigma, σ bond). Overlap of a sp2 orbital of one carbon with a sp2 orbital of another results in the formation of a carbon-carbon σ bond. The unhybridised p orbitals on two adjacent carbons can undergo lateral (side-by-side) overlap to give a pi (π) bond. Organic compounds can be represented by various structural formulas. The three-dimensional representation of organic compounds on paper can be drawn by wedge and dash formula.
Organic compounds can be classified on the basis of their structure or the functional groups they contain. A functional group is an atom or group of atoms bonded together in a unique fashion which determines the physical and chemical properties of the compounds. The naming of the organic compounds is carried out by following a set of rules laid down by the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC). In IUPAC nomenclature, the names are correlated with the structure in such a way that the reader can deduce the structure from the name.
Organic reaction mechanism concepts are based on the structure of the substrate molecule, the fission of a covalent bond, the attacking reagents, the electron displacement effects and the conditions of the reaction. These organic reactions involve breaking and making covalent bonds. A covalent bond may be cleaved in a heterolytic or homolytic fashion. A heterolytic cleavage yields carbocations or carbanions, while a homolytic cleavage gives free radicals as a reactive intermediate. Reactions proceeding through heterolytic cleavage involve the complementary pairs of reactive species. These are electron pair donors known as nucleophiles and an electron pair acceptor known as electrophiles. The inductive, resonance, electromeric and hyperconjugation effects may help in the polarisation of a bond making certain carbon atoms or other atom positions as places of low or high electron densities.
Organic reactions can be broadly classified into the following types; substitution, addition, elimination and rearrangement reactions. Purification and qualitative and quantitative analysis of organic compounds are carried out to determine their structures. The methods of purification namely: sublimation, distillation and differential extraction are based on the difference in one or more physical properties. Chromatography is a useful technique for separation, identification and purification of compounds. It is classified into two categories: adsorption and partition chromatography. Adsorption chromatography is based on differential adsorption of various components of a mixture on an adsorbent. Partition chromatography involves continuous partitioning of the components of a mixture between stationary and mobile phases. After getting the compound in a pure form, its qualitative analysis is carried out for the detection of elements present in it. Nitrogen, sulphur, halogens and phosphorus are detected by Lassaigne’s test. Carbon and hydrogen are estimated by determining the amounts of carbon dioxide and water produced. Nitrogen is estimated by Dumas or Kjeldahl’s method and halogens by the Carius method. Sulphur and phosphorus are estimated by oxidising them to sulphuric and phosphoric acids respectively. The percentage of oxygen is usually determined by the difference between the total percentage (100) and the sum of percentages of all other elements present.
Check out the detailed breakdown of what’s inside the course
Use your certificate to make a career change or to advance in your current career.
Become a valued member of Tutorials Point and enjoy unlimited access to our vast library of top-rated Video Courses
Master prominent technologies at full length and become a valued certified professional.