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Other than those just named, little consensus exists among chemists on precisely which carbon-containing compounds are excluded, making any rigorous definition of an organic compound elusive. Although organic compounds make up only a small percentage of Earth's crust , they are of central importance because all known life is based on organic compounds.

Living things incorporate inorganic carbon compounds into organic compounds through a network of processes the carbon cycle that begins with the conversion of carbon dioxide and a hydrogen source like water into simple sugars and other organic molecules by autotrophic organisms using light photosynthesis or other sources of energy.

Most synthetically-produced organic compounds are ultimately derived from petrochemicals consisting mainly of hydrocarbons , which are themselves formed from the high pressure and temperature degradation of organic matter underground over geological timescales.

In chemical nomenclature, an organyl group , frequently represented by the letter R, refers to any monovalent substituent whose open valence is on a carbon atom. For historical reasons discussed below, a few types of carbon-containing compounds, such as carbides , carbonates excluding carbonate esters , simple oxides of carbon for example, CO and CO 2 , and cyanides are generally considered inorganic.

Different forms allotropes of pure carbon, such as diamond , graphite , fullerenes , and carbon nanotubes [4] are also excluded because they are simple substances composed of only a single element and therefore are not generally considered to be chemical compounds. The word "organic" in this context does not mean "natural.

Vitalism was a widespread conception that substances found in organic nature are formed from the chemical elements by the action of a "vital force" or "life-force" vis vitalis that only living organisms possess. In the s, Jöns Jacob Berzelius argued that a regulative force must exist within living bodies.

Berzelius also contended that compounds could be distinguished by whether they required any organisms in their synthesis organic compounds or whether they did not inorganic compounds. Vitalism survived for a short period after the formulation of modern ideas about the atomic theory and chemical elements.

It first came under question in , when Friedrich Wöhler synthesized oxalic acid , a compound known to occur only in living organisms, from cyanogen.

A further experiment was Wöhler's synthesis of urea from the inorganic salts potassium cyanate and ammonium sulfate. Urea had long been considered an "organic" compound, as it was known to occur only in the urine of living organisms.

Wöhler's experiments were followed by many others, in which increasingly complex "organic" substances were produced from "inorganic" ones without the involvement of any living organism, thus disproving vitalism.

Although vitalism has been discredited, scientific nomenclature retains the distinction between organic and inorganic compounds. The modern meaning of organic compound is any compound that contains a significant amount of carbon—even though many of the organic compounds known today have no connection to any substance found in living organisms.

The term carbogenic has been proposed by E. Corey as a modern alternative to organic , but this neologism remains relatively obscure.

The organic compound L -isoleucine molecule presents some features typical of organic compounds: carbon—carbon bonds , carbon—hydrogen bonds , as well as covalent bonds from carbon to oxygen and to nitrogen. As described in detail below, any definition of organic compound that uses simple, broadly-applicable criteria turns out to be unsatisfactory, to varying degrees.

The modern, commonly accepted definition of organic compound essentially amounts to any carbon-containing compound, excluding several classes of substances traditionally considered 'inorganic'. However, the list of substances so excluded varies from author to author.

Still, it is generally agreed upon that there are at least a few carbon-containing compounds that should not be considered organic. For instance, almost all authorities would require the exclusion of alloys that contain carbon, including steel which contains cementite , Fe 3 C , as well as other metal and semimetal carbides including "ionic" carbides, e.

g, Al 4 C 3 and CaC 2 and "covalent" carbides, e. B 4 C and SiC , and graphite intercalation compounds, e. Other compounds and materials that are considered 'inorganic' by most authorities include: metal carbonates , simple oxides of carbon CO , CO 2 , and arguably, C 3 O 2 , the allotropes of carbon, cyanide derivatives not containing an organic residue e.

Halides of carbon without hydrogen e. Nickel tetracarbonyl Ni CO 4 and other metal carbonyls are often volatile liquids, like many organic compounds, yet they contain only carbon bonded to a transition metal and to oxygen, and are often prepared directly from metal and carbon monoxide.

Nickel tetracarbonyl is typically classified as an organometallic compound as it satisfies the broad definition that organometallic chemistry covers all compounds that contain at least one carbon to metal covalent bond; it is debatable whether organometallic compounds form a subset of organic compounds, however.

For example, the evidence of covalent Fe-C bonding in cementite , [8] a major component of steel, places it within this broad definition of organometallic, yet steel and other carbon-containing alloys are seldom regarded as organic compounds. Thus, it is unclear whether the definition of organometallic should be narrowed, whether these considerations imply that organometallic compounds are not necessarily organic, or both.

Metal complexes with organic ligands but no carbon-metal bonds e. Likewise, it is also unclear whether metalorganic compounds should automatically be considered organic.

The relatively narrow definition of organic compounds as those containing C-H bonds excludes compounds that are historically and practically considered organic. Neither urea CO NH 2 2 nor oxalic acid COOH 2 are organic by this definition, yet they were two key compounds in the vitalism debate.

The IUPAC Blue Book on organic nomenclature specifically mentions urea [9] and oxalic acid. Mellitic acid , which contains no C-H bonds, is considered a possible organic substance in Martian soil.

A slightly broader definition of the organic compound includes all compounds bearing C-H or C-C bonds. This would still exclude urea. Moreover, this definition still leads to somewhat arbitrary divisions in sets of carbon-halogen compounds. For example, CF 4 and CCl 4 would be considered by this rule to be "inorganic", whereas CHF 3 , CHCl 3 , and C 2 Cl 6 would be organic, though these compounds share many physical and chemical properties.

Organic compounds may be classified in a variety of ways. One major distinction is between natural and synthetic compounds. Organic compounds can also be classified or subdivided by the presence of heteroatoms , e. Another distinction, based on the size of organic compounds, distinguishes between small molecules and polymers.

Natural compounds refer to those that are produced by plants or animals. Many of these are still extracted from natural sources because they would be more expensive to produce artificially.

Examples include most sugars , some alkaloids and terpenoids , certain nutrients such as vitamin B 12 , and, in general, those natural products with large or stereoisometrically complicated molecules present in reasonable concentrations in living organisms.

Further compounds of prime importance in biochemistry are antigens , carbohydrates , enzymes , hormones , lipids and fatty acids , neurotransmitters , nucleic acids , proteins , peptides and amino acids , lectins , vitamins , and fats and oils.

Compounds that are prepared by reaction of other compounds are known as " synthetic ". Most polymers a category that includes all plastics and rubbers are organic synthetic or semi-synthetic compounds.

Many organic compounds—two examples are ethanol and insulin —are manufactured industrially using organisms such as bacteria and yeast.

Many such biotechnology -engineered compounds did not previously exist in nature. A great number of more specialized databases exist for diverse branches of organic chemistry. Contents move to sidebar hide. Article Talk. Read Edit View history. Tools Tools. What links here Related changes Upload file Special pages Permanent link Page information Cite this page Get shortened URL Download QR code Wikidata item.

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