Download 2. Organic Families Activity

Name_________________________
Activity #2: Organic Families
Introduction
Despite the fact that there are over 10 million different organic compounds, studying organic chemistry
is not as difficult as one might first think. The structural theory of organic chemistry allows one to classify most of
these compounds into a limited number of categories or families. Within a family all the compounds behave
chemically in a similar manner. Therefore, by learning the characteristics of each family one can learn the
chemistry of thousands of organic molecules. The first step is to learn to recognize the various families, which is
one of the objectives of this Activity.
Protocol
Prepared models of organic compounds will be available for your examination. You are to identify the
family that each model represents and draw the expanded structural formula, the condensed structural, and
the line-bond formula of the compound. If more than one family is represented you must list all of them.
Most organic compounds contain a structural characteristic of the alkane family. However, we do not
classify a compound as an alkane unless this is the only family it belongs to. Example:
CH3CH2CH2OH
"Alkane like"
This compound is considered to belong only to the alcohol family because of the OH group.
Report Sheet:
Your write up will include: (1) model number (the number attached to the model), (2) name of family or
families, (3) expanded structural formula, (4) condensed structural formula, and (5) line-bond formula. You
should do this on your own paper. Please place your answers in sequential order from 1-18, where the number
corresponds to the model number.
Name of Family
Feature that characterizes
the family
Example
H
H
Alkane
Single bonds only
C
H
C H
H
H
H3 C
H
C
Alkene
Carbon, carbon double bond
Alkyne
Carbon, carbon triple bond
C
H
H
H
C
C
H
H
H
H
H
H
Aromatic
Benzene ring
Haloalkanes
C F
Alcohol
C
OH
Ether
C
O
C
Cl
H
C
Br C
I
CH3 Br
CH3CH2OH
C
CH3
O
O
O
Aldehyde
C C H
O
C C C
CH3
O
Carboxylic acid
C CH CH CH
2
2
3
O
C C OH
CH3
C OH
O
O
Ester
C C O C
CH3
C O CH2CH3
H
Amine
N
N
CH3
CH3
O
O
C
N
Amide
C H
CH3CH2
O
Ketone
CH2CH3
H
C
N
H
CH3