In this area of study students explore why such a vast range of carbon compounds is possible. They examine the structural features of members of several homologous series of compounds, including some of the simpler structural isomers, and learn how they are represented and named.
They study typical reactions of organic families and some of their reaction pathways, and write balanced chemical equations for organic syntheses.
Students learn to deduce or confirm the structure and identity of organic compounds by interpreting data from mass spectrometry, infrared spectroscopy and proton and carbon-13 nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy.
On completion of this unit the student should be able to compare the general structures and reactions of the major organic families of compounds, deduce structures of organic compounds using instrumental analysis data, and design reaction pathways for the synthesis of organic molecules.