CH 106-03

Oxyorganic Compounds: Alcohols, Aldehydes, Ketones

Introduction

During this lesson we will be working with the names and structures and some of the reactions of three different classes of organic chemicals, all of which contain oxygen as well as carbon and hydrogen. From my point of view, at least, it is convenient to refer to all such compounds as oxyorganic compounds. An oxyorganic compound is an organic compound which contains oxygen.

The featured classes of compounds in this lesson are alcohols, aldehydes and ketones. Along with their structures, properties, nomenclature and infrared spectra we will study the reactions by which these compounds can be synthesized, identified, and converted to other compounds.

In the next lesson we will work with additional oxyorganic compounds.

Along with the featured classes of compounds, each lesson in this course has an additional featured topic. In the first lesson it was nomenclature. In the second lesson it was hybridization and the related sigma and pi bonding. In this lesson it is the interconnectedness of all the different classes of compounds -- the ways in which one compound can be synthesized from other compounds. You can see that in the wide variety of reactions in which alcohols are involved both as reactant and product. Indeed, it has been said that good organic chemists can make anything they want by starting with the appropriate alcohol.

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