Facts On Functional Groups

What is a functional group?

   
  A functional group is a group of atoms responsible for the characteristic reactions of a particular compound. There are seven main functional groups we've learned about this year. They are the hydroxyl group, carboxyl group, carbonyl group, amino group, sulfhydryl group, methyl group, and phosphate group. 

What is a hydrocarbon?

A hydrocarbon is any chemical compund that consists only of the elements carbon and hydrogen. They all contain a carbon backbone, called a carbon skeleton, and have hydrogen atoms attached to that backbone. It's called an organic compound which is a compound containing carbon. A functional group can be added to a hydrocarbon to give it a unique set of properties. 

 Why is it important to know about functional groups when dealing with hydrocarbons?

Its important to know about the functional groups when dealing with hydrocarbons because it determines the name and other properties of the new element. With prior knowledge on the subject you can easily note the changed properties of the element. If you had no prior knowledge you would have to spend unnecessary time researching the properties of it.

Functional Groups for Dummies

Here are a few helpful websites to visit:

http://www.chemistry-drills.com/functional-groups.php?q=simple

http://chemed.chem.purdue.edu/genchem/topicreview/bp/2organic/function.html

Heres a fun game you can play having to do with functional groups and organic molecules: http://www.chem.uiuc.edu/omg/

Hydroxyl Group

• Hydroxyl group is an alcohol
• It dissolves organic compounds, filtered from blood using liver.
• It has a very strong medicinal smell.

Carboxyl Group

• Carboxyl group is carboxylic & acetic acid.
• Respiration by products.
• Part of amino acid.
• Soluble: dissolves in water

Carbonyl Group

• Ketones and aldehyde
• Protein degradation by products

Amino Group

• Amines
• Component of amino acid (need amino and carboxyl acids)
• Soluble: dissolves in water
• Fishy smell
• Eery strong smell
• (Amines in the presence of H20 gives some OH)

Sulfhydryl Group

• Thiols
• Part of amino acids
• Link proteins (responsible for the difference between straight and curly hair)

Methyl Group

• Affect gene expression (attachment can express a gene)
• Changes sex hormone structure or function
• Non polar

Phosphate Group

• Phosphate ion
• Covalently attatched by one of its Oxygens to the Carbon skeleton
• non polar