CHEM 1A Chapter Notes - Chapter 20: Stereoisomerism, Alkoxide, Addition Reaction
Document Summary
Hydrocarbons: compounds containing only carbon and hydrogen (p. 954) Organic chemistry is the study of organic compounds, which contain carbon (and other elements including hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen): carbon (20. 2) Carbon forms more compounds than all the other elements combined for several reasons. Carbon"s four valence electrons (in conjunction with its size) allow carbon to form four bonds (in the form of single, double, or triple bonds). Carbon also has the capacity to catenate, to form long chains, because of the strength of the carbon carbon: hydrocarbons (20. 3) Organic compounds containing only carbon and hydrogen are called hydrocarbons, the key components of our world"s fuels. Hydrocarbons can be divided into four different types: alkanes, alkenes, alkynes, and aromatic hydrocarbons. Stereoisomers are molecules that feature the same atoms bonded in the same order but arranged differently in space. Optical isomerism, a type of stereoisomerism, occurs when two molecules are nonsuperimposable mirror images of one another: alkanes (20. 4)
