Concept
Organic compound
Related concepts (24)
Hydrophile
A hydrophile is a molecule or other molecular entity that is attracted to water molecules and tends to be dissolved by water. In contrast, hydrophobes are not attracted to water and may seem to be repelled by it. Hygroscopics are attracted to water, but are not dissolved by water. A hydrophilic molecule or portion of a molecule is one whose interactions with water and other polar substances are more thermodynamically favorable than their interactions with oil or other hydrophobic solvents.
Catenation
In chemistry, catenation is the bonding of atoms of the same element into a series, called a chain. A chain or a ring shape may be open if its ends are not bonded to each other (an open-chain compound), or closed if they are bonded in a ring (a cyclic compound). The words to catenate and catenation reflect the Latin root catena, "chain". Catenation occurs most readily with carbon, which forms covalent bonds with other carbon atoms to form longer chains and structures.
Wöhler synthesis
The Wöhler synthesis is the conversion of ammonium cyanate into urea. This chemical reaction was described in 1828 by Friedrich Wöhler. It is often cited as the starting point of modern organic chemistry. Although the Wöhler reaction concerns the conversion of ammonium cyanate, this salt appears only as an (unstable) intermediate. Wöhler demonstrated the reaction in his original publication with different sets of reactants: a combination of cyanic acid and ammonia, a combination of silver cyanate and ammonium chloride, a combination of lead cyanate and ammonia and finally from a combination of mercury cyanate and cyanatic ammonia (which is again cyanic acid with ammonia).
Cyanogen
Cyanogen is the chemical compound with the formula (CN)2. The simplest stable carbon nitride, it is a colorless and highly toxic gas with a pungent odor. The molecule is a pseudohalogen. Cyanogen molecules consist of two CN groups – analogous to diatomic halogen molecules, such as Cl2, but far less oxidizing. The two cyano groups are bonded together at their carbon atoms: N≡C‒C≡N, although other isomers have been detected. The name is also used for the CN radical, and hence is used for compounds such as cyanogen bromide (NCBr) (but see also Cyano radical.