Carbon and Its Compounds Class (Part-I)

Bonding in Carbon

Carbon form covalent bonds.

Formation of covalent bond : Covalent bond formation involves sharing of electrons between bonding atoms which may be either same or different.

Covalency : The number of electrons contributed by an atom for sharing is known as its covalency.

Characteristics of covalent compounds :
(i) These compounds are molecular in nature (i.e. they exist as single molecules)
(ii) These are insoluble in water and soluble in benzene, kerosene and petrol etc.
(iii) These compounds are poor conductor of electricity.

Allotropy in Carbon

The property due to which an element exists in two or more forms, which differ in their physical and some ofthe chemical properties is known as Allotropy and the various forms are called Allotropes.

Carbon exists in two allotropic form

(i) crystalline

(ii) amorphous.

The crystalline forms are diamond & graphite whereas the amorphous forms are coal, charcoal, lamp black etc.

Fullerenes form another class of carbon allotropes. The first one to be identified was C- 60, which has carbon atoms arranged in the shape of a football.

Unique Nature of Carbon

Catenation : The property of elements to form long chains or rings by self linking of their own atoms- through covalent bonds is called catenation. The extent of catenation depends upon the strength of the bonds between the atoms involved in catenation.

Saturated and Unsaturated Carbon Compounds

In saturated compounds the valencies of all the carbon atoms are satisfied by single bonds between them.

While in the unsaturated compounds, the valencies of all the carbon atoms are not satisfied by single bonds, thus in order to satisfy their valencies, they form double or triple bond between the carbon atoms.

Straight chain compounds

The compounds which contain straight chain of carbon atoms e.g. normal butane (C₄H₁₀), normal pentane (C₅H₁₂) etc.

Branched chain compounds

Those compounds which are branched. e.g. iso-butane (C₄H₁₀), isopentane (C₅H₁₂), neopentane (C₅H₁₂) etc.

Closed chain compounds or Ring compounds

Cyclic compounds are called closed chain or ring compounds e.g. cyclohexane (C₆H₁₂), cyclopentane (C₅H₁₀), cyclobutane (C₄H₈), cyclopropane (C₃H₆) etc.

Hydrocarbons

All those compounds which contain just carbon and hydrogen are called hydrocarbons.

Functional Group

The atom or group of atoms which determine the properties of a compound is known as functional group. e.g. OH (alcohol), CHO (aldehyde), > C = C < (alkene), > C≡C < (alkyne) etc.

Homologous Series

A series of compounds in which the same functional group substitutes hydrogen in a carbon chain is called a homologous series. e.g. CH₃Cl and C₂H₅Cl differ by a CH₂ unit.

11. Nomenclature Chemists developed a set of rules, for naming organic compounds based on their structures which is known as IUPAC rules. The IUPAC name of an organic compounds consists of three parts.

Prefix - word root - Suffix

Word Root : A word root indicates the nature of basic carbon skeleton.

In case a functional group is present, it is indicated in the name of the compound with either as a prefix or as a suffix.

While adding the suffix to the word root the terminal 'e' of carbon chain is removed If the carbon chain is unsaturated then the final 'ane' in the name of the carbon chain is substituted by 'en'  or 'yne' respectively for double and triple bonds.