Organic Chemistry, YOU SHALL NOT PASS!

Hola mis amigos! Welcome back to PinchOfKCN's chemistry lessons! Today we're going to continue with the topic "Organic Chemistry", but only more complicated than the last two lessons. Also, I believe this may be one of the LAST blog posts we're gonna have; and I can't wait to wave goodbye to all of you — ——JUST KIDDING.

Anyways, here we are again, talking about organic chemistry functional groups; so what exactly are they?
Functional groups are organic compounds that involves chemical reactions of the molecules. They have different atoms more than just plain old carbon and hydrogen; and these atoms tend to attach to the carbon chain.
There are a lot of functional groups, but today, we're only going to look at "Halides/Nitro compounds", "Alcohols" and "Aldehydes/Keytones".

Halides and Nitro Compounds
In the Alkyl Halides, one of the halogen elements are attached to the carbon chain, and where they will replace one of the hydrogen attached to a carbon.
Consider the follow halide and name it:

Before we start, I should safely assume that you must know each turning point contains one carbon, right? Here's an expended view of the diagram:

However, for time consuming reason, I'll not be drawing out each carbon in the next few examples. 

How to name Halides:

1. First, go find the longest carbon chain

As you all know, the longest carbon chain is the blue one, which is 10. And where there is only single bond in this example, we can quickly assume that we're dealing with a decane.
2. Identify all the branches

Nice and color-coded; when we name halides, we have to change the ending of the halogens from -ine to -o (eg. Fluorine to Fluoro).
3. Write the name according to alphabetical order
Well, just in case you don't know the alphabets, here's a picture for you. And now, we write: 2-chloro-8-ethyl-5-iodo-8-methyl dectane
Same as nitros, the procedure is the same, you just have to replace the halogens with nitrogen.



Alcohols
Alcohols are functional groups that contain a hydroxyl molecule in the hydrocarbon chain, they are, however, very different from the alcohol people drink.
Consider the following diagram and name it:

How to name Alcohols:
1. First, find the longest carbon chain (as always)

In this case, it's ultra easy because there's only one possible obvious chain, which is 6. Right away, we know that this is a hexane.
2. Find the position of the OH branch
Now, count from the side that is closest to the OH branch. In this case, you'll get the number 3.
3. Name the compound
With alcohols, we change the ending of the carbon chain group from -e to -ol, and then add the position of the OH branch in front of it. For this diagram, we write: 3-hexanol
Pretty easy, huh? Well I'm sure there are a lot of hard ones involving alcohols, but considering for demonstration purpose, I will just stick with the easy ones for now :)


Aldehydes
Aldehydes are compounds with a double bonded oxygen at the end of the carbon chain, common examples are methanal, ethanal, and propanal.
Now, try to name the following compound:

1. Find the longest carbon chain (yes, again)

Just a reminder that the last branch is a hydrogen, so you don't count it as one carbon in the chain. As a result, we've got 5 (penta).
2. Identify any branches

Now we have one methyl branch in the second carbon molecule, so we name it as 2-methyl.
3. Name the whole compound
For aldehydes, we change the ending of the carbon group from -e to -al. In this case, our compound would be 2-methyl pentanal.


Ketones
Every time when I saw the word "ketone", I'd always mixed it up with "keystone". They're just....so similar. Anyways, ketones are hydrocarbon chains with a double bonded oxygen molecule, but at the end of the chain.
Consider the following diagram:

1. Find the longest carbon chain (Yes, we all know)
And since we've done this plenty of times, I don't think we need a diagram for the longest carbon chain, because you must be able to tell me that it is 7.
2. Next, find where is the double bonded oxygen located
Usually, we have to count from the nearest end in order to get the number of carbons. But since we have equal number of carbons at both sides of the chain, we can count from either end to achieve an answer of 4 carbons.
3. Name the compound
Lastly, we change the ending of the carbonyl group from -e to -one, and our final answer would be 4-heptanone, also known as the dipropyl keytone——if you would like to use the traditional naming method and impress the teachers.


Now, congratulations for getting over the FIRST PART of organic chemistry functional group! We're going to talk about the second part next time.
So how do you fell right now? I'd say let's give yourself a little pat on the back, and prepare yourself for the next lesson. That's my best advice.
By the way, if you have to choose one from the following photo, which one would be your choice?

If you choose video games, well.....here's what chemistry teachers (and I) have to say before the final exam:

That's it for today's lesson, good day.