NCERT Class 11 Chemistry Organic Chemistry Some Basic Priciples and Techniques

ORGANIC CHEMISTRY – SOME BASIC PRINCIPLES

AND TECHNIQUES

In the previous unit you have learnt that the element carbon has the unique property called catenation due to which it forms covalent bonds with other carbon atoms. It also forms covalent bonds with atoms of other elements like hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, sulphur, phosphorus and halogens. The resulting compounds are studied under a separate branch of chemistry called organic chemistry. This unit incorporates some basic principles and techniques of analysis required for understanding the formation and properties of organic compounds.

12.1 GENERAL INTRODUCTION

Organic compounds are vital for sustaining life on earth and include complex molecules like genetic information bearing deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and proteins that constitute essential compounds of our blood, muscles and skin. Organic chemicals appear in materials like clothing, fuels, polymers, dyes and medicines.

These are some of the important areas of application of these compounds. Science of organic chemistry is about two hundred years old. Around the year 1780, chemists began to distinguish between organic compounds obtained from plants and animals and inorganic compounds prepared from mineral sources. Berzilius, a Swedish chemist proposed that a ‘vital force’ was responsible for the formation of organic compounds. However, this notion was rejected in 1828 when F. Wohler synthesised an organic compound, urea from an inorganic compound, ammonium cyanate.

                                 NH₄ CNO → NH₂CONH₂

The pioneering synthesis of acetic acid by Kolbe (1845) and that of methane by Berthelot (1856) showed conclusively that organic compounds could be synthesised from inorganic sources in a laboratory.

The development of electronic theory of covalent bonding ushered organic chemistry into its modern shape.

12.2 TETRAVALENCE OF CARBON: SHAPES OF ORGANIC COMPOUNDS

12.2.1 The Shapes of Carbon Compounds

The knowledge of fundamental concepts of molecular structure helps in understanding and predicting the properties of organic compounds. You have already learnt theories of valency and molecular structure in Unit 4. Also, you already know that tetravalence of carbon and the formation of covalent bonds by it are explained in terms of its electronic configuration and the hybridisation of s and p orbitals. It may be recalled that formation and the shapes of molecules like methane (CH₄), ethene (C₂H₄₎, ethyne (C2H₂) are explained in terms of the use of sp³, sp² and sp hybrid orbitals by carbon atoms in the respective molecules.

Hybridisation influences the bond length and bond enthalpy (strength) in organic compounds. The sp hybrid orbital contains more s character and hence it is closer to its nucleus and forms shorter and stronger bonds than the sp3 hybrid orbital. The sp2 hybrid orbital is intermediate in s character between sp and sp3 and, hence, the length and enthalpy of the bonds it forms, are also intermediate between them. The change in hybridisation affects the electronegativity of carbon. The greater the s character of the hybrid orbitals, the greater is the

electronegativity. Thus, a carbon atom having an sp hybrid orbital with 50% s character is more electronegative than that possessing sp² or sp³ hybridised orbitals. This relative electronegativity is reflected in several physical and chemical properties of the molecules concerned, about which you will learn in later units.

12.2.2 Some Characteristic Features of π Bonds

In a π (pi) bond formation, parallel orientation of the two p orbitals on adjacent atoms is necessary for a proper sideways overlap. Thus, inH₂C=CH₂ molecule all the atoms must be in the same plane. The p orbitals are mutually parallel and both the p orbitals are perpendicular to the plane of the molecule. Rotation of one CH₂ fragment with respect to other interferes with maximum overlap of p orbitals and, therefore, such rotation about carbon-carbon double bond (C=C) is restricted. The electron charge cloud of the π bond is located above and below the plane of bonding atoms. This results in the electrons being easily available to the attacking reagents. In general, π bonds provide  the most reactive centres in the molecules containing multiple bonds.

Please refer to attached file for NCERT Class 11 Chemistry Organic Chemistry- Some Basic Priciples and Techniques