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Question

what is the characteristic of carbon accounts for the huge variety of organic compounds?

Answer 1

The chemical symbol for carbon is C, and its atomic number (the number of protons in the nucleus of each atom) is 6. Each carbon atom is capable of forming strong chemical bonds, called covalent bonds, with up to four other atoms. Carbon is therefore said to be tetravalent. Scientists are aware of nearly 10 million carbon compounds, and new ones are synthesized regularly. Carbon compounds constitute the vast majority of all known chemical compounds. Most compounds of carbon are classified as organic compounds, which form the basis for the field of organic chemistry.

Answer 2

The main characteristic is that carbon is generally covalently bonded. This allows for unique structures such as long carbon chains and rings. The reason carbon is excellent at forming unique structures and that there are so many carbon compounds is that carbon atoms form very stable covalent bonds with one another (catenation). In contrast to inorganic materials, organic compounds typically melt, boil, sublimate, or decompose below 300 °C. Neutral organic compounds tend to be less soluble in water compared to many inorganic salts, with the exception of certain compounds such as ionic organic compounds and low molecular weight alcohols and carboxylic acids where hydrogen bonding occurs.

Organic compounds tend to dissolve in organic solvents which are either pure substances like ether or ethyl alcohol, or mixtures, such as the paraffinic solvents such as the various petroleum ethers and white spirits, or the range of pure or mixed aromatic solvents obtained from petroleum or tar fractions by physical separation or by chemical conversion. Solubility in the different solvents depends upon the solvent type and on the functional groups if present. Solutions are studied by the science of physical chemistry. Like inorganic salts, organic compounds may also form crystals. A unique property of carbon in organic compounds is that its valency does not always have to be taken up by atoms of other elements, and when it is not, a condition termed unsaturation results. In such cases we talk about carbon carbon double bonds or triple bonds. Double bonds alternating with single in a chain are called conjugated double bonds. An aromatic structure is a special case in which the conjugated chain is a closed ring.