Chemistry Assignment - Solved

Chemistry
1
Chemistry
Student's Name:
Instructor's Name:
Date:

Chemistry
2
Describe the structure, bonding, physical properties, interconversion and nomenclature of
organic alcohols, aldehydes, ketones and carboxylic acids. Give named examples of each.
There are several types of organic compounds and they vary in their properties, depending upon
the ‘functional group’ that is attached to their structure. Accordingly, the alcohols, aldehydes,
ketones and carbohydrates possess distinct and unique chemical and physical properties due to
these ‘functional groups.’
Introduction:
Compounds, with a hydroxyl (-OH) group attached to a saturated hydrocarbons are called
alcohols (Aaaron, nd).
An alcohol is represented as (Clark, 2003.):
This is ‘Methyl Alcohol’ or Methanol, the simplest of alcohols, with the central carbon atom
surrounded by three hydrogen and one hydroxyl group.
Alcohols can contain one or more hydroxyl group, and are thereby named depending upon the
number of hydroxyl group they possess, as mono, di, tri or polyhydric alcohols.
Aldehydes and ketones both contain C=O group, the carbonyl group. While ketones have the
carbonyl group joined on both ends with one ‘alkyl’ group, the aldehydes have one end attached
to alkyl group, and the other, with a hydrogen.
Example:

Chemistry
3
Hence, functional group of aldehydes is –CHO, while that of Ketones is C=O.
Organic Acids, or carboxylic acids, are those which contain a –COOH attached to the alkyl or
aryl (aromatic) group. They can be represented as:
The name ‘Carboxylic Acid’ is derived from C=O (carbonyl) and –OH (hydroxyl group)
attached to it. Depending on the number of carboxylic acid group attached to it, an acid is called
– Mono, di, tri or polycarboxylic acid.
Structure and Bonding:
The orbital makeup of alcohols can be represented by methyl alcohol, or methanol.
The oxygen and carbon in methanol are sp3 hybridized, with two of the sp3 orbital of oxygen
completely filled already, and thus, cannot take part in the bond formation. The C-O-H bond