Nutrients such as vitamin C molecules are understood and manipulated using organic chemistry.
An organic chemistry tutorial covers many topics and lessons in order to be comprehensive. Naming and recognizing common collections of atoms called functional groups is one of the relevant topics. Atomic electronegativity is crucial to predicting general molecule behavior. You will practice predicting reaction products and transformations. Intermediate molecules and parallel reactions are important in predicting mass/energy dynamics during and after organic processes.
Instructions
1. Memorize common organic functional groups and the related naming scheme. For instance "-OH" is the hydroxyl functional group common in many organic compounds. Propyl alcohol and potassium hydroxide both contain the "OH" functional group even though the two substances are named slightly different with respect to the "OH." "Alcohol" and "hydroxide" refer to the same oxygen-hydrogen group. This "multiple naming" phenomenon is common in organic chemistry.
2. Organize atoms by electronegativity. This is done to predict likely reaction paths. Groups with low electronegativity are electron donors. Higher electronegativity values imply electron acceptors. Partial charges help to indicate and acceptors. Consider methanol, expressed as CH3---OH. The "OH" hydroxyl has a higher electronegativity due to the oxygen than methyl (CH3). Therefore, the carbon end of the molecule has a slight positive charge and the "OH" electron acceptor has a corresponding slight negative charge.
3. Practice predicting organic reaction products. Electrons and atoms shuffle between---and within---organic molecules with surprising complexity. Steric and kinetic effects influence correct, or even likely, reaction steps.
4. Capture information about intermediates and parallel reactions. Intermediates exist briefly before transforming into other intermediates and/or products. Parallel reactions may be obvious or subtle, producing only tiny traces of "parallel product." Intermediate molecules and parallel reactions are inferred by methods such as spectroscopy, mass and energy balance as well as reaction mechanism predictions.
Tags: parallel reactions, common organic, electron donors, functional group, functional groups, Intermediate molecules