What's Organic Chemistry

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Organic chemistry is the chemistry of carbon compounds. It is the basis of all earthy life and are all very different, by their chemical and physical properties and their structures. With a multitude of carbon compounds existing in this world, there was a need for a way to organize all of them by their characteristics. A few of the many functional groups include alcohol, aldehydes, amines, esters, ethers, and ketones. The substance that seems most interesting is benzoin, which is characterized in two of the functional groups mentioned. It is involved in many different processes and is widely used in foods, mainly baked products.
Benzoin is viewed as off-white crystals, with a slight camphor odor. A camphor smells of vanilla with a slight medicinal scent. The substance's formal hydrocarbon chemical name is 2-Hydroxy-1,2-diphenylethanone. Many other names for Benzoin includes 2-Hydroxy-2 – phenyl acetophenone benzoylphenyl carbinol, and Alpha-hydroxylbenzyl phenyl ketone. The structure for Benzoin is illustrated by Figure 1. The structure includes two benzine rings with multiple bonds, including oxygen and hydrogen, off of them. The molecular formula is C14H12O2 . This chemical is found in two functional groups, the alcohol group and the ketone group.
This chemical, Benzoin, is used in a variety of different ways. One of the main purposes for this compound is to be used as an intermediate for the synthesis of organic compound. The second major purpose for Benzoin is to be a catalyst in photo polymerization. In the photo polymerization, the chemical is used as a photo-initiator. The photo-initiators are commonly used because they can be conducted at low temperatures and easily stopped by simply removing the light source. Photo-in...

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