Assignment on "A Brief History of Organic Chemistry"

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A Brief History of
Organic Chemistry
Submitted by:
A. N. M. SHARIF
Student, (Dept. of Pharmacy)
University of Asia Pacific,
Bangladesh

2. anm.sharif@live.com
The chemical compounds of living things are known as organic compounds because
of their association with organisms. Organic compounds, which are the compounds
associated with life processes, are the subject matter of organic chemistry. Among the
numerous types of organic compounds, four major categories are found in all living things:
carbohydrates, lipids, protein, and nucleic acids.
The word "organic" is historical, dating back to the 1st century. For many centuries,
Western alchemists believed in vitalism (Vitalism is the doctrine, often advocated in the past
but now rejected by mainstream science, that "living organisms are fundamentally different
from non-living entities because they contain some non-physical element or are governed by
different principles than are inanimate things".) Vitalism survived for a while even after the
rise of modern atomic theory and the replacement of the Aristotelian elements by those we
know today.
Organic chemistry was first defined as a branch of modern science in the early 1800's
by Jon Jacob Berzelius. He classified chemical compounds into two main groups: organic if
they originated in living or once-living matter and inorganic if they came from "mineral" or
non-living matter. Like most chemists of his era, Berzelius believed in Vitalism - the idea
that organic compounds could only originate from living organisms through the action of
some vital force.
It was a student of Berzelius' who made the discovery that would result in the
abandonment of Vitalism as a scientific theory. In 1828, Frederich Wöhler discovered that
urea - an organic compound - could be made by heating ammonium cyanate (an inorganic
compound).
Wöhler mixed silver cyanate and ammonium chloride tp produce solid silver chloride
and aqueous ammonium cyanate:
AgOCN (aq) + NH4Cl AgCl(s) + NH4OCN(aq)
He then separated the mixture by filtration and tried to purify the aqueous ammonium
cyanate by evaporating the water.
To his surprise, the solid left over after the evaporation of the water was not ammonium
cyanate, it was a substance with the properties of urea! Wöhler's observation marked the
first time an organic compound had been synthesized from an inorganic source.
NH4OCN (aq) (NH2)2CON(s)
During the 20th
century, organic chemistry branched into sub-disciplines such as
polymer chemistry, pharmacology, bioengineering, petro-chemistry, and numerous others.
During that century, millions of new substances were discovered or synthesized. Today over
98% of all known compounds are organic.

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Sources of Organic Compounds :
There are some generally accepted sources of organic compounds:
1. Natural sources:
I) coal
II) natural gas
III) petroleum
IV) plants
V) animal oils and fats, alkaloids
VI) starch, sugars, and so on.
2. Synthesis: A wide variety of compounds and materials prepared by manufacturing
processes.
3. Fermentation: Alcohols, acetone, glycerol, antibiotics, acids, and the like are derived
by the action of microorganisms upon organic matter.
Characterize:
Organic compounds were traditionally characterized by a variety of chemical tests,
called "wet methods", but such tests have been largely displaced by spectroscopic or other
computer-intensive methods of analysis
Physical Properties of Organic Compounds :
Organic compounds, in general, differ greatly from inorganic compounds in seven
respects:
1. Organic compounds are usually combustible.
2. Organic compounds, in general, have lower melting and boiling points. Organic
compounds are usually not very stable at temperatures above 300 °C, although some
exceptions exist.
3. Organic compounds are usually less soluble in water.
4. Several organic compounds may exist for a given formula. This is known as isomerism.
5. Reactions of organic compounds are usually molecular rather than ionic. As a result,
they are often quite slow.
6. The molecular weights of organic compounds may be very high, often well over 1000.
7. Most organic compounds can serve as a source of food for bacteria.

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Classification of organic compounds
Orrganic Compounds
Open Chain Com pounds Closed Chain
Or or Ring Compounds
Acyclic compo unds or Cyclic compounds
Saturated U nsaturated Homocyclic Heterocyclic
Or
Carbocyclic Alicylic Aromatic
Alicylic Aromatic
Benzenoid Non-benzenoid
Organic compounds can be classified according to their functional group.
Functional groups :
The family of carboxylic acids c ontains a carboxyl (-COOH)functional g roup. Acitic acid,
shown here, is an example.
The concept of functional grou ps is central in organic chemistry, bot h as a means to
classify structures and for predicting properties. A functional group is a m olecular module,
and the reactivity of that functional group is assumed, within limits, to be the same in a
variety of molecules. Most functional groups feature heteroatoms (atoms other than C and
H). Organic compounds are classified according to functional groups, alcohols, carboxylic
acids, amines, etc.

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Aliphatic compounds :
The aliphatic hydrocarbons are subdivided into three groups of homologous series according
to their state of saturation:
1. Paraffins, which are alkanes without any double or triple bonds,
2. Olefins or alkenes which contain one or more double bonds
3. Alkynes, which have one or more triple bonds.
Aromatic compounds :
Aromatic hydrocarbon content of conjugated double bonds. This means that the ring SP2
hybridized carbon atoms each, for further stability, It is important. For example, benzene.
Heterocyclic Compounds
The characteristics of the cyclic hydrocarbons are again altered if heteroatom’s are present,
which can exist as either substituent’s attached externally to the ring or as a member of the
ring itself. In the case of the latter, the ring is termed a heterocyclic. Pyridine and furan are
examples of aromatic heterocyclic compounds.
Polymers:
This swimming board is made of polystyrene, an example of a polymer. The linking process
is called polymerization, whiles the chains, or networks, are called polymers. Two main
groups of polymers exist: synthetic polymers and biopolymers.
Uses of organic compounds:
1. Organic compounds also uses of agriculture, Restoring soil, Fungi etc. Organic
compounds also used Forensic Lab. More over organic compound has a very big
contribute in pharmacy. About 99% of pharmaceutical drugs are organic drugs.
2. Carbon is essential to all known living systems, and without it life as we know it
could not exist. The major economic use of carbon other than food and wood is in
the form of hydrocarbons, most notably the fossil fuel methane gas and crude
oil (petroleum).
3. Crude oil is used by the petrochemical to produce, amongst other
things, gasoline and kerosene, through a distillation process, in refineries.
4. Cellulose is a natural, carbon-containing polymer produced by plants in the form of
cotton, linen, and hemp. Cellulose is mainly used for maintaining structure in plants.
Commercially valuable carbon polymers of animal origin include wool, cashmere and
silk. Plastics are made from synthetic carbon polymers, often with oxygen and
nitrogen atoms included at regular intervals in the main polymer chain. The raw
materials for many of these synthetic substances come from crude oil.

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5. The uses of carbon and its compounds are extremely varied. It can
form alloys with iron, of which the most common is carbon steel. Graphite is
combined with clays to form the 'lead' used in pencils used for writing and drawing.
It is also used as a lubricant and a pigment, as a molding material
in glass manufacture, in electrodes for dry batteries and
in electroplating and electroforming in brushes for electric motors and as a neutron
moderator in nuclear reactors.
6. Charcoal is used as a drawing material in artwork, for grilling, and in many other uses
including iron smelting. Wood, coal and oil are used as fuel for production of energy
and space heating.
7. Gem quality diamond is used in jewelry, and industrial diamonds are used in drilling,
cutting and polishing tools for machining metals and stone. Plastics are
made from fossil hydrocarbons, and carbon fiber, made bypyrolysis of
synthetic polyester fibers is used to reinforce plastics to form advanced,
lightweight composite materials
8. Carbon black is used as the black pigment in printing ink, artist's oil paint and water
colours, carbon paper, automotive finishes and laser printer toner.
9. Carbon black is also used as a filler in rubber products such as tyres and
in plastic compounds. Activated charcoal is used as
an absorbent and adsorbent in filter material in applications as diverse as gas
masks, water purification and kitchen extractor hoods and in medicine
to absorb toxins, poisons, or gases from the digestive system. Carbon is used
in chemical reduction at high temperatures.
10.Coke is used to reduce iron ore into iron. Case hardening of steel is achieved by
heating finished steel components in carbon powder. Carbides of silicon, tungsten,
boron and titanium, are among the hardest known materials, and are used as abrasives
in cutting and grinding tools.
11. Carbon compounds make up most of the materials used in clothing, such as natural
and synthetic textiles and leather, and almost all of the interior surfaces in the built
environment other than glass, stone and metal.
Conclusion :
All living systems derive their power from amino acids and proteins (organic) with
carbohydrates (sugar) and fat-like organic compounds. There are organic compounds called
nucleic acids in the genetic information that transfer information from one generation to the
next. Since the discovery and development of historical times, importance of organic
compounds is very high. Not only because of living system but also to maintain that living
system healthy. For example as food or as pharmaceutics purpose.