Organic chemistry carbon

One of the cornerstones of the chemistry of carbon compounds (organic chemistry) is Kekule s concept, proposed in 1858, of the tetra-valence of carbon. It was independently proposed in the same year by Couper who, however, got little recognition (vide infra). Kekule realized that carbon can bind at the same time to not more than four other atoms or groups. It can, however, at the same time use one or more of its valences to form bonds to another carbon atom. In this way carbon can form chains or rings, as well as multiple-bonded compounds. 

Although Kekule and Couper were correct in describing the tetravalent nature of carbon, chemistry was still viewed in a two-dimensional way until 1874. In that year, Jacobus van t Hoff and Joseph Le Bel added a third dimension to our ideas about organic compounds when they proposed that the four bonds of carbon are not oriented randomly but have specific spatial directions. Van t Hoff went even further and suggested that the four atoms to... 

Haruki, E. In Organic and Bioorganic Chemistry of Carbon dioxide. Organic Synthesis with Carbon Dioxide Inoue, S. Yamazaki, N. (Eds) Raised New York 1982, pp. 5-78. 

Hold a dish over a candle flame, and you will see a black deposit begin to form. While you probably know that this deposit is carbon, you may never have thought it was very important. But carbon is such an important element that a whole major field of chemistry, organic chemistry, is devoted to the study of its compounds. A compound, as we know, is a new substance formed by the union of two or more elements. 

Ahmad R, Kookana R, Alston A, Skjestad J (2001) The nature of soil organic matter affects sorption of pesticide. 1. Relationships with carbon chemistry as determined by C-13 CPMAS NMR spectroscopy. Environ Sci Technol... 

Catalysis—Congresses. 2. Carbon monoxide— Congresses. 3. Chemistry, Organic—Synthesis—Congresses. 

Beginning as chemical curiosities, carbenes are now solidly established as reactive intermediates with fascinating and productive research areas of their own. Six decades of divalent carbon chemistry have provided us with a vast repertoire of new, unusual, and surprising reactions. Some of those reactions, once classified as exotic, have become standard methods in organic synthesis. These highly reactive carbene species have been harnessed and put to work to achieve difficult synthetic tasks other reactive intermediates cannot easily perform. 

L. M. Lytvynenko Institute of Physical-Organic Chemistry and Carbon Chemistry National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine... 

Today, carbon chemistry is more closely related to organic and hydrocarbon chemistry than to the elemental aUotropes of carbon. Over the past century organic and hydrocarbon chemistry has opened up vast areas of research and development leading to new commercial processes and products. 

These two properties in my opinion explain all that is characteristic of organic chemistry. I believe that the second is specified here for the first time. In my opinion, it accoimts for the important, and still unexplained, fact of the accumulation of molecules [atoms] of carbon in organic compounds. In compounds 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, etc., molecules [atoms] of carbon are linked together...". ... 

N H2CH2C02H. Notably, about half of these interstellar molecules are carbon-based organic molecules. As discussed in Chapter 4, the atoms originated from the nuclear fusion of ancient stars. How interesting it is that these atoms then join together to form molecules even in the deep vac-cum of outer space. Chemistry is truly everywhere. 

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