Functional groups
Below is a list of the many millions of organic molecules that can exist. You have probably heard of most of them:
- cholesterol
- amphetamine
- paracetamol
- testosterone
- dopamine
- methadone.
Based on the names of these compounds, we can classify them into three groups.
| -ol | -one | -amine |
|---|---|---|
| cholesterol paracetamol |
testosterone methadone |
dopamine amphetamine |
The names reveal something about the arrangement of atoms within these molecules. In particular there are certain groupings of atoms that help to define the nature of the compound. These are called functional groups.
There are specific functional groups that allow us not only to classify, but to also predict the behaviours of the compounds that are made from molecules that contain these functional groups. You will study these groups in this section.
The functional groups associated with the groupings above are shown below. Identify the presence of the named functional group in the structures of the molecules shown.
Functional group is:
The structure of paracetamol is shown below.
Compounds associated with this functional group are called alcohols, for example ethanol and methanol.
Functional group is:
The structure of testosterone is shown below.
Compounds associated with this functional group are called ketones, for example propanone (also known as acetone).
Functional group is:
The structure of dopamine is shown below.
Compounds associated with this functional group are called amines, for example methylamine.
The next section introduces these and other functional groups that are important in this course. Note that in the examples above, some of the molecules contain more than one functional group. In this course nearly all the examples you will encounter only contain one functional group so it should be fairly easy to classify and name the compounds.
Research the function of the three organic compounds shown in the above section.
