Area of study 2- Organic chemical pathways Organic chemistry refers to the study of compounds that are made from

m carbon and hydrogen. The term hydrocarbon refers to molecules that are made ONLY from carbon and hydrogen. Hydrocarbons are classified according to the number and type of bonds that exist between the carbon atoms. Three homologous series or series of organic compounds with similar chemical properties exist- the alkanes, alkenes and alkynes. Hydrocarbons are particularly stable molecules because all carbon and hydrogen atoms have a full outer shell of electrons without having any lone hairs. There are therefore not susceptible to attack by either electron rick or electron deficient species. The intramolecular bonding is the strong covalent bond, where as the intermolecular bonding are weak dispersion forces, as they tend to be non polar. As the size of the molecule increases the number of instantaneous dipoles increases, so the dispersion forces increases as well. As the electronegativities of carbon and hydrogen are similar, the covalent bonding within pure hydrocarbon molecule is nonpolar in nature. This means that hydrocarbons are therefore insoluble in polar solvents such as water. Due to the weak dispersion forces acting between alkanes, the smaller members such as methane and ethane exist as gasses at room temperature. Members containing between 5 and 16 carbon atoms exist as liquids, whereas compounds containing 17+ carbon atoms present as soft solids Alkenes are non-polar compounds with physical properties similar to the corresponding alkanes. However, due to the geometry of alkenes, the net dispersion forces that arise between these molecules is lower that than of the corresponding alkane with the same number of carbon atoms. Therefore, melting points are lower, boiling points are lower, the volatility is higher the viscosities and densities are lower. The smaller members such as ethene, propene and most butane exist as gases at room temperatures, whereas alkenes containing more than 4 carbon atoms will most likely exist as liquids. Alkenes can also display isomers with significant branching, as in the case of the alkane series, as the degree of branching increases, the dispersion forces decrease and melting points, boiling points, viscosities, densities decrease where as volatility increases.