Chemistry: Organic Chemistry: Key terms

• Crude oil


  a fossil fuel; a mixture consisting mainly of alkanes
• Hydrocarbon


  a molecule that contains only carbon and hydrogen atoms
• Viscous


  sticky
• Fractional distillation


  a separation technique used to separate mixtures which contain components with similar boiling points
• Alkanes


  saturated hydrocarbons with the general formula CnH2n+2
• Saturated


  a hydrocarbon molecule that only contains single carbon-carbon (C-C) bonds
• Combustion


  burning
• Cracking


  the process by which longer-chain hydrocarbons can be broken down into shorter, more useful hydrocarbons
• Alkenes


  unsaturated hydrocarbons with the general formula CnH2n
• Unsaturated


  a hydrocarbon molecule with at least one double carbon-carbon (C=C) bond
• Addition reaction


  a reaction in which the reactants join together to form one product
• Fermentation


  a chemical reaction in which alcohol and carbon dioxide are produced from glucose
• Hydroxyl

  the -OH group found in alcohols
• Homologous series


  members of the same family of compounds; they have the same functional group and each one differs from the previous one by the addition of CH2
• Carboxyl


  the -COOH group found in carboxylic acids
• Amino acid


  a simple organic compound containing both a carboxyl (-COOH) and an amino (-NH2 ) group
• DNA


  a very large molecule with a double helix structure, which stores and transmits instructions for the development of living organisms and some viruses
• Cellulose


  a form of carbohydrate
• Alkenes


  unsaturated hydrocarbons with the general formula CnH2n
• Unsaturated


  a hydrocarbon molecule with at least one double carbon-carbon (C=C) bond
• Polymer


  large molecules formed when lots of smaller monomer molecules join together
• Monomer


  a small molecule that can join together to form a polymer
• Addition polymerisation


  when many monomers join together to form a large molecule
• Condensation polymerisation


  when many small monomer molecules join together to form large polymer molecules and small molecules such as water, H2 O
• Diol


  a molecule with two hydroxyl, -OH, groups
• Dicarboxylic acid


  a molecule with two carboxyl, -COOH, groups
• Polyester

  a type of condensation polymer
• Amino acid


  a simple organic compound containing both a carboxyl (-COOH) and an amino (-NH2 ) group