Use this tag for questions relating to organic molecules and their properties (structure of organic molecules, spectroscopic properties, reaction mechanisms, stereochemistry etc). DO NOT use this tag as the only tag in your question, as this tag by itself cannot appropriately classify your question. Always use this tag in addition to other more specific tags.
An organic molecule is a molecule containing carbon, typically with significant amounts of hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen but also containing other stable (usually main group, non-metallic) elements such as the halogens, sulfur, phosphorous and others. Organic molecules were historically the molecules isolated from nature, such as the amino acids and sugars, but the definition has since been expanded to include ‘man-made’ organic molecules.
Organic chemistry is the branch of chemistry that deals with these organic molecules, and the reactions of these molecules to form new ones which may be useful as pharmaceuticals, materials, dyes etc.
Definition:
Organic chemistry is the study of the structure, properties, composition, reactions, and preparation of carbon-containing compounds, which include not only hydrocarbons but also compounds with any number of other elements, including hydrogen (most compounds contain at least one carbon–hydrogen bond), nitrogen, oxygen, halogens, phosphorus, silicon, and sulfur.
Organic chemistry is a chemistry subdiscipline involving the scientific study of the structure, properties, and reactions of organic compounds and organic materials, i.e., matter in its various forms that contain carbon atoms. The range of chemicals studied in organic chemistry include hydrocarbons (compounds containing only carbon and hydrogen), as well as myriad compositions based always on carbon, but also containing other elements, especially oxygen, nitrogen, sulfur, phosphorus (these, included in many organic chemicals in biology) and the radiostable elements of the halogens.
Applicability of the organic-chemistry tag:
- organic-chemistry should be applied to any questions dealing with organic molecules, whether relative to structure, reactivity or any other property.
- The field of organic chemistry is vast, and as such the organic-chemistry tag is not very descriptive by itself (it is the most used tag on chemistry.se), therefore additional tags should be added to help narrow down the scope of the question. In general, at least two other tags will be appropriate: a first tag dealing with the topic of the question such as reaction-mechanism or spectroscopy, and a second tag dealing with the molecule, for which a series of functional group tags exist such as carbonyl-compound
Related tags:
The following tags are related to organic-chemistry, with multiple questions on chemistry.se already tagged with one of more of the following which may be useful as additional tags on questions identified as being related to organic chemistry:
Further reading:
The literature of Organic Chemistry is vast, however, there are a handful of highly respected books that are a good starting point for the subject:
- Clayden, J.; Organic Chemistry; Oxford University Press: Oxford, 2012.
- March, J.; Advanced Organic Chemistry; Wiley: New Jersey, 2013
- Carey, F.; Advanced Organic Chemistry- Part A; Springer: New York, 2007
- Carey, F.; Advanced Organic Chemistry- Part B; Springer: New York, 2007
- Robert T. Morrison, Robert N. Boyd; Organic Chemistry - 6th edition; Pearson: 1992
