Other Organic Compounds:

Functional Groups & Polymers

I. Functional Groups

A. Functional group: An atom or group of atoms attached to mainly hydrocarbons1. Responsible for the specific properties of an

organic compound 2. Types of functional groups – see chart

provided in class

B. Type of Organic Reactions1. Substitution Reactions - one or more atoms

replace another atom or group of atoms in a molecule

methane chlorine chloromethane hydrogen

chloride

2. Addition Reactions - an atom or molecule is added to an unsaturated molecule and increases the saturation of the molecule

II. PolymersA. Polymers - large chainlike molecules made

from many small molecules called monomers1. Simplest polymer – polyethylene2. Polyethylene results from addition

polymerization.

B. Condensation Polymerization - two molecules (monomers) or parts of the same molecule combine 1. Addition of more monomers creates polymer

chains2. A small molecule (often water) is released for

each addition of a monomer to the polymer chain • Nylon

• Condensation of amino acids in protein formation

• A polymer of amino acids (many condensed into a long chain) is referred to as a polypeptide