Organic chemistry

Author: Chief Editor: Cui Jie et al.
Publisher:
Publish Date: 1998-09-01
Features: Preface Since the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee, vocational teacher education has made great progress. However, as one of the three major basic constructions in vocational teacher education, the development of teaching materials for vocational teacher colleges has always been poorly addressed. In recent years, some regions and schools have sporadically compiled teaching materials for vocational teacher colleges to improve this situation. However, the materials were not comprehensive, with some subjects even producing several types of materials of varying quality. Although this partially alleviated the lack of teaching materials in vocational teacher colleges, the absence of a unified, high-quality set of national teaching materials ultimately affected the teaching quality. To further enhance the efficiency of vocational teacher colleges and completely change the situation where they lacked teaching materials suitable for their own characteristics, the Department of Teacher Education of the State Education Commission formulated the "Teaching Plans for Eight Majors in Two-Year Vocational Teacher Colleges" in 1987. Subsequently, they invited experienced experts and professors across the country to compile the "Teaching Syllabi" for these eight majors. In July 1988, a national planning meeting for the compilation and publication of teaching materials for two-year vocational teacher colleges was held in Changchun, where the "Planning for the Compilation and Publication of Teaching Materials for Eight Majors in Two-Year Vocational Teacher Colleges (1988–1990)" was formulated. The eight majors were: Chinese, History, Political Education, Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, and Geography. Under the unified arrangement of the Department of Teacher Education of the State Education Commission, the strong support of the education commissions and higher education bureaus of various provinces, municipalities, and autonomous regions, and the active organization of publishers, this set of teaching materials invited professors or associate professors with long-term experience in teaching at vocational teacher colleges and rich teaching practice and high academic standards to serve as chief editors for each subject. Each subject's teaching materials were reviewed and supervised by experts with deep academic expertise and familiarity with the teaching conditions of vocational teacher colleges. Based on the "Guiding Ideology and Basic Principles for Compiling Teaching Materials for Two-Year Vocational Teacher Colleges" drafted by the Department of Teacher Education of the State Education Commission and the spirit of the "Teaching Syllabi" for each subject, the chief editors organized the compilers to gather materials, conduct comprehensive research, and strive to produce a set of teaching materials with the distinctive characteristics of vocational teacher colleges to meet the urgent needs of vocational teacher education. With strong support from all sides and the hard work and dedication of the chief editors, reviewers, and all the compilers, this set of teaching materials has now been published in installments. We sincerely welcome the of vocational teacher colleges to use it and provide valuable feedback during the process to continuously improve and enhance it, ensuring it remains in sync with contemporary science and the practical realities of vocational teacher education. Excerpt: Chapter 1: Introduction Section The Research Object and Brief History of the Development of Organic Chemistry Organic chemistry is a discipline that studies the origin, preparation, structure, applications, and related theories of organic compounds. Organic compounds are commonly referred to as organic substances, originally meaning materials obtained from living organisms that are closely related to life, as opposed to minerals, or "inorganic substances." In the early 19th century, many chemists mistakenly believed that organic substances could only be formed under a mysterious "vital force" in living organisms and could not be synthesized in a laboratory without this "vital force." This erroneous theory of "vital force" led people to be satisfied with extracting only a limited number of organic substances from living organisms rather than making breakthroughs in the artificial synthesis of organic substances. Practice is the sole criterion for testing truth. In 1828, German chemist Friedrich W?hler evaporated a solution of cyanic acid and obtained urea, which had previously been obtained from urine. This was the first time that an organic substance was synthesized from inorganic materials in a laboratory. In a letter to the prominent chemist J?ns Jacob Berzelius, W?hler wrote, "I have synthesized urea, and I have done so without the help of the kidneys or any animal—whether human or dog." The artificial synthesis of urea broke the absolute boundaries between the origin of organic substances and inorganic substances and shook the foundation of the theory of "vital force." By the mid-19th century, more organic substances were artificially synthesized. For example, in 1845, German chemist Hermann Kolbe synthesized acetic acid. Subsequently, people successively synthesized a series of organic acids, such as citric acid, succinic acid, and malic acid. In 1854, French chemist Marcellin Berthelot synthesized lipid substances. In 1861, Russian chemist Alexander Butlerov synthesized sugar substances, and so on. In the face of objective facts, the idealist theory of "vital force" was finally completely overthrown. Although the theory of "vital force" has long been abandoned, the names of organic compounds and organic chemistry are still used today, but their connotations have completely changed. Since organic compounds all contain the element carbon, in 1848, German chemist August Kekulé defined organic compounds as carbon-containing compounds, and organic chemistry as the chemistry of carbon-containing compounds. However, some simple carbon-containing compounds, such as CO, CO?, carbonates, cyanides, and cyanates, are traditionally discussed in inorganic chemistry because they exhibit typical properties of inorganic substances. In addition to carbon, most organic compounds also contain hydrogen, and many contain oxygen, nitrogen, halogens, sulfur, phosphorus, and other elements. In 1874, German chemist Karl Schorlemmer further defined organic substances as hydrocarbons and their derivatives, and organic chemistry as the chemistry of hydrocarbons and their derivatives. The latter definition better reflects the characteristics of organic substances and also reflects their structural interrelationships. However, organic chemistry only became an independent and systematic discipline after the establishment of the structural theory of organic chemistry. From 1857 to 1858, Kekulé proposed the concept that carbon atoms are tetravalent and can be connected with each other to form chains. In 1865, he also proposed the cyclic structure theory of benzene. In 1861, Butlerov more comprehensively proposed the theory of chemical structure, believing that all atoms in an organic compound molecule are connected in a certain order and bonding manner within the molecule and influence each other. Carbon atoms in the molecule are combined with other atoms or themselves with four bonds, while other atoms are combined with carbon atoms according to their valence. The chemical structure of a molecule determines the main properties of the substance.