The complete lecture — organic chemistry comes alive in the live panel as you read. Scroll down; the animation keeps pace, and you can build IUPAC names yourself.
1 — Why carbon is unique
- Carbon — tetravalent (4 bonds) and catenates (bonds to itself) into chains, branches and rings. Its orbitals hybridise sp³, sp² or sp, giving tetrahedral, planar or linear shapes.
2 — Classification of organic compounds
| Class | Skeleton |
|---|
| Aliphatic | open chain (propane) |
| Alicyclic | non-aromatic ring (cyclohexane) |
| Aromatic | benzene ring (benzene) |
3 — Functional groups
- Functional group — the reactive atom/group (–OH, –CHO, >C=O, –COOH, –NH₂, C=C…) that decides the family, prefix and suffix.
4 — Homologous series
general formulasAlkanes CₙH₂ₙ₊₂ · Alkenes CₙH₂ₙ · Alkynes CₙH₂ₙ₋₂ · Alcohols CₙH₂ₙ₊₁OH
5 — IUPAC nomenclature
the ruleslongest chain → lowest locants → substituents alphabetically → suffix for the principal group
Pick the longest chain for the root (meth-, eth-, prop-, but-, pent-…), number from the end that gives the lowest locants, then name. Move the sliders to build a name.
6 — Isomerism: structural
| Type | Example (same formula) |
|---|
| Chain | n-butane vs isobutane |
| Position | propan-1-ol vs propan-2-ol |
| Functional | ethanol vs dimethyl ether |
7 — Isomerism: stereoisomerism
- cis / trans — across a rigid C=C, like groups on the same side = cis, on opposite sides = trans. Chiral carbons (4 different groups) give optical isomers (enantiomers).
8 — Exam recap
- Why carbon is unique: tetravalency, catenation, sp³/sp²/sp.
- Classification & functional groups.
- Homologous series & general formulas.
- IUPAC nomenclature rules.
- Structural & stereo (cis–trans, optical) isomerism.
- Detection & purification of organic compounds.