Perhaps the easiest branch of chemistry is Organic Chemistry. While the rest of the subject will need you to focus on theories and equations simultaneously, this is a part that’ll allow you to score very high grades simply with an understanding of the molecular bondings, compositions and reactions. That’s another very crucial fact about organic chemistry: it can help you to drag up your grades on a whole. The questions being of purely objective kind offer no scope to teachers for deducting marks when the students write down the correct answer. Therefore, if you invest a bit of your time into Organic chemistry, you’ll earn profitable returns.
Besides, there are students who like to study subjects like this more out of curiosity than out of the need to score. With modern education system and the prevailing competition in every field, it is of course essential to pay attention to one’s grade. But the whole effort would be useless unless you actually learn something from it. There are students who possess a thirst for knowledge, and for them Organic chemistry can prove to be a very captivating and satisfying field of study.
Organic Chemistry: the not so easy parts
However interesting the subject may appear to some students, there’s bound to be a segment thatfaces trouble with the subject. There’s nothing to be ashamed about it. Everyone has their strong and weak points and for some people the weak link happens to be organic chemistry. People find this branch of chemistry intimidating when:
- They have developed a habit of merely memorizing things without understanding.
- When they cannot remember the names or rather do not know how to name a compound.
- When they do not understand how the reactions or bondings are taking place.
- When they lack any basic idea about the subject.
- When they are rushing to finish their chapters without adequate time at hand.
If you too have come across similar problems as these, this blog can help you to find your way around the subject. Students often wonder that why understanding and analysis is essential to have a good grip on chemistry? Well that’s because this is not a subject where simply mugging things up is sufficient. You actually need to use your brain here. That’s the only way to master it.
But before I suggest you some easy ways to deal with organic chemistry, it’s important that you know the basics of the subject. So here it goes.
What is Organic Chemistry?
Organic chemistry is the narrowed down branch of Chemistry that primarily focuses on carbon, the central structure constituting element of every living organism as well as of many non living compounds. For instance, several medicines, dyes, plastics and even diamonds are a form of carbon. The last one being carbon in crystallized form. Carbon is one such element where one atom can form a bond with four other atoms of the same or other elements. Because of this excellent bonding capacity of carbon, it serves as a great structural element. Organic compounds can often be quite large with numerous molecules and atoms bonded together. Organic chemistry teaches students all about these bonds. Organic compounds may comprise components like proteins, carbohydrates and nucleic acid. The four electrons in a carbon atoms outer shell bond with other atoms. Carbon has an affinity for hydrogen atoms while it also bonds with atoms of oxygen, nitrogen and sulfur.
Basics things to remember about organic chemistry:
Its only when you follow a proper method that you will actually be able to master the subject. And once you start walking on the right path, you’ll see that it was never too difficult anyway! So here are a few things that you can start off with before you delve deeper into the subject.
- Types of compounds:
Organic compounds can be of two types- open chain compounds comprising alkenes, alkanes, alkynes and their respective derivatives. The other kind of organic compounds are close chain compounds which include: cyclic compounds made up of a single kind of atom, that is, carbon atoms only; aromatic compounds comprising one or more than one single or fused benzene rings; cyclic atoms comprising one or more atoms of different kinds of atoms, for instance, hydrogen and oxygen atoms.
- Nomenclature:
A very significant part of Organic chemistry deals with nomenclature or naming the compounds as per their composition. This is very essential and can be considered as the very foundation of organic chemistry. To achieve any kind of progress in this particular subject, you’ll have to be well versed in nomenclature. There are certain rules for naming the compounds. Any standard Organic chemistry book which follows your syllabus would be able to tell you all about these rules of naming compounds. However, this is not something you can simply mug up. Rather you need to understand exactly how and why the compounds are being named the way they are. Once you get a hold of the rules, you’ll be quite at ease naming the compounds yourself. A little bit of practice will make the whole process very easy and convenient for you.
- Formation of groups:
Organic Chemistry groups molecules with similar properties, owing to similar atoms, together. These similar properties may either be physical or chemical. Physical properties would include the different forms of a substance, while the substance itself remains unchanged. Chemical properties include the changeover of one substance into another by means of a reaction. These groups are known as functional groups and functional group of a substance imparts two qualities to it, acidity and polarity. A particular group represents weak acids (take carboxyl acids for example) while another represents a strong acid. There are in-betweens as well. Polarity, on the other hand, implies that a particular molecular is charged on one end and carries no charge on the other.
These are a few common facts that Organic Chemistry students will find useful while studying the subject. However, there’s a lot more to learn and know: these are just the first steps. Textbooks as well as chemistry helpfrom experienced personnel should be very helpful in teaching what the students need to know, only if they are willing to learn. So forget your fears about the subject, and start investing your time into it. True devotion will certainly fetch you positive results!