General Chemistry for the Health Care Professions

General Chemistry
for the
Health Care Professions

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3-1. INTRODUCTION

Carbon is one of the most abundant elements in our world. It is part of the molecular structure of all living organisms. It is the basis for our fuel and energy production and it plays a large role in the chemistry of many of the synthetic fabrics and plastics that have become so important to our lifestyle. Carbon compounds also account for a vast majority of today's drugs. It is very important that you, as a health care provider, have a basic understanding of the chemistry of carbon compounds and organic chemistry due to the roles that carbon plays.

3-2. CONTRAST WITH INORGANIC CHEMISTRY

There are several general differences between the chemistries of carbon compounds and inorganic compounds, which will help give you an overall view of organic chemistry (Table 3-1).

	INORGANIC CHEMISTRY	ORGANIC CHEMISTRY
TYPE OF BONDING	Ionic	Covalent
MOLECULAR SIZE	Small	Large
WATER SOLUBILITY	Soluble	Insoluble
SOLUBILITY IN ORGANIC SOLVENTS	Insoluble	Soluble
CLASSES OF COMPOUNDS	Acid, base, or salt	Many (functional groups)
STRUCTURAL FORMULAS	Unimportant	Very important

Table 3-1. Comparison of organic and inorganic chemistry.

Original content of this course is supplied by Academy of Health Sciences
Fort Sam Houston, Tx.