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Transition to A-level chemistry

Hi I'm in year 11 but due to this pandemic my school have started setting A level work for us to do. I was wondering if I could get help on which of the following are organic compounds and why. I tried searching the internet but it isn't really helping. Thank you.
propanoic acids
water nucleic acids
fats
sugars
proteins
enzymes
hydrocarbon fuels
I'm mainly stuck on what water nucleic acids are and what propanoic acids are. And also why some of the above are organic compounds.
Thank you again :smile:
Original post by shumaira
Hi I'm in year 11 but due to this pandemic my school have started setting A level work for us to do. I was wondering if I could get help on which of the following are organic compounds and why. I tried searching the internet but it isn't really helping. Thank you.
propanoic acids
water nucleic acids
fats
sugars
proteins
enzymes
hydrocarbon fuels
I'm mainly stuck on what water nucleic acids are and what propanoic acids are. And also why some of the above are organic compounds.
Thank you again :smile:

An organic compound is anything that contains carbon.
Are you sure it's "water nucleic acids" rather than two substances/types of substance: water, nucleic acids?

Nucleic acids are the building blocks of your genes.

Organic chemistry is carbon chemistry. However there are a few carbon compounds which don't count as organic compounds, notably simple ionic carbon compounds: carbonates and carbides, but also simple oxides: carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide. Pretty much all other compounds with carbon in (and there are vast, vast numbers of them) are organic. Nearly all of the items on your list are organic compounds.

Propanoic acid is a 3 Carbon carboxylic acid with the formula C3H6O2, or more informatively, CH3CH2COOH. (The prefix 'prop-' means 'three carbons'.)
Reply 3
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AN0128
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Original post by shumaira
Hi I'm in year 11 but due to this pandemic my school have started setting A level work for us to do. I was wondering if I could get help on which of the following are organic compounds and why. I tried searching the internet but it isn't really helping. Thank you.
propanoic acids
water nucleic acids
fats
sugars
proteins
enzymes
hydrocarbon fuels
I'm mainly stuck on what water nucleic acids are and what propanoic acids are. And also why some of the above are organic compounds.
Thank you again :smile:

Almost any compound that contains carbon is an organic compound. Yes fats, hydrocarbon fuels, proteins, sugars, acids with carbons are all organic compounds. And an enzyme is a protein so yeah it's organic too.
Reply 4
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shumaira
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Original post by maryam1233
An organic compound is anything that contains carbon.

Thank you
Reply 5
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shumaira
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Original post by Trumbles
Are you sure it's "water nucleic acids" rather than two substances/types of substance: water, nucleic acids?

Nucleic acids are the building blocks of your genes.

Organic chemistry is carbon chemistry. However there are a few carbon compounds which don't count as organic compounds, notably simple ionic carbon compounds: carbonates and carbides, but also simple oxides: carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide. Pretty much all other compounds with carbon in (and there are vast, vast numbers of them) are organic. Nearly all of the items on your list are organic compounds.

Propanoic acid is a 3 Carbon carboxylic acid with the formula C3H6O2, or more informatively, CH3CH2COOH. (The prefix 'prop-' means 'three carbons'.)

My teacher wrote water nucleic acids but I think he probably forgot a comma or something because I couldn’t find water nucleic acids anywhere lol.
So to find whether or not a substance is an organic compound or not I just need to see if there are Carbon and hydrogen atoms within it or just carbon?
Thank you
Reply 6
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shumaira
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Original post by AN0128
Almost any compound that contains carbon is an organic compound. Yes fats, hydrocarbon fuels, proteins, sugars, acids with carbons are all organic compounds. And an enzyme is a protein so yeah it's organic too.

So is everything on the list an organic compound then?
Original post by shumaira
So is everything on the list an organic compound then?

except water!

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