CHE E122 Lecture Notes - Lecture 19: Catenation, Covalent Bond, Aliphatic Compound
Document Summary
Carbon is tetravalent i. e it has four valence electrons and therefore can form four strong covalent bonds with other carbon atoms or other elements (h2, n2, s, br etc. The arrangement of atoms, which is a tetrahedron with angles of 109. 5 between hydrogens. The arrangement in space about the central carbon can be explained in very simple terms. Each covalent bond contains two electrons and constitutes a region of negative charge. Since four such regions in space must repel one another, they will be as far apart as possible and this puts the hydrogens at the corners of a tetrahedron. Catenation is the ability of carbon to form very long chains of interconnecting c-c bonds. Carbon can form multiple bonds including double (alkenes c=c-), or triple bonds with other carbon atoms (alkynes) or other elements e. g nit. Hydrocarbons are compounds composed only of carbon and hydrogen atoms. Hydrocarbons provide the backbone of all organic compounds.
