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Background   use balls, sticks and springs to build models of organic molecules

Chemistry

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Background

 

use balls, sticks and springs to build models of organic molecules. Of primary interest in this exercise is the bonding around carbon atoms. As you have seen in the classroom, carbon readily bonds with itself and a variety of other small atoms (e.g., oxygen, sulfur, nitrogen, hydrogen, etc.) to form an almost infinite number of simple and complex molecules. Perhaps the most important of these is DNA, where hydrogen bonding couples with covalent bonding to form the unique α-helix structure that carries the genetic code of life. Another important facet of carbon bonding is the ease in which it forms double, triple and aromatic bonds with itself and other atoms.

You will create the molecules listed below using the model kits. You will then transfer that model to paper using the plain, wedged and dashed lines to show three-dimensional structures. The plain lines are in the plane of the paper, the wedged lines signify bonds coming out of the page towards the viewer and the dashed lines signify bonds going away from the viewer. Except for aromatic bonding, carbon, oxygen and nitrogen almost always follow the Rule of Eight in bonding while hydrogen always follows the Rule of Two.

 

 

Procedure

a.    Model the molecules using the model kits.

b.    After the instructor has approved each model, transfer the shape to the data sheet using the convention described above. Write the formula for the molecule, the name of the molecule. If there are more than one structure (isomer) for the molecule, model and draw all of them.

c.     For each structure, identify the number and type of each bond in the molecule.

 

Groups

(Note: Formulas in italics are aromatic structures; o=ortho, p=para, m=meta: underlines mean there is more than one possible structure for the formula.)

 

 

chose only 1 of the following

 

A)   C₅H₁₂, C₆H₄(CH₃)₂, C₆H₅CH₃, C₆H₅OH, p-C₆H₄(NH₂)₂, C₅H₁₀, C₆H₁₂, CH₃OCH₃

 

B)    C₅H₁₂, C₆H₅CH₃, C₆H₄(CH₃)₂, p-C₆H₄(OH)₂, C₆H₅NH₂, C₃H₆, C₆H₁₂, CH₃COOH

 

C)    C₅H₁₂, C₆H₆, C₆H₃(CH₃)₃, o-C₆H₄(OH)₂, C₆H₅NH₂, C₄H₈, C₆H₁₂, CH₃CHO