When speaking of compounds, allusion is generally made to chemical compounds, that is, to substances that are made up of two or more chemical elements that are combined in a certain way and proportion. For instance: methylene blue, ferric chloride, water, methane.
The physicochemical properties of the compounds are not the same as those of the chemical elements that make it up separately.
exist thousands of examples of chemical compounds around us, natural and synthetic, each with its own characteristics. From table salt or sugar with which we season what we eat every day, or soap and bleach that we use to clean, to the medications we take to alleviate our pain or heal from infections are made up of different chemical compounds.
Classification of compounds
Since there are so many chemical compounds, it is common to try to arrange them in some way. In general, they are separated into two large groups: organic compounds and inorganic compounds:
- Organic They contain at least carbon and hydrogen in their molecule, among them are important substances such as hydrocarbons, classic fuels; proteins or fats.
- Inorganic. They do not contain carbon as a central element, but rather combine other elements (such as nitrogen, sulfur, iron, oxygen or potassium) to form salts, oxides, hydroxides and acids. Anyway cable clarify that there are also salts and organic acids.
Depending on the type of bond that occurs between the elements, you can have ionic or covalent compounds:
- Ionic compounds. They are held together by the cation and anion by the attraction caused by the difference in charges.
- Covalent compounds. Its electrons are shared.
Chemical compounds are usually represented by their structural formula or semi-developed. Three-dimensional models are also very useful to understand how chemical compounds are formed, especially if they are very complex molecules with specific folds, such as proteins.
Examples of chemical compounds
Some chemical compounds are listed below:
- Methylene blue
- Ferric chloride
- Water
- Methane
- Streptomycin
- Ethanol
- Glycerol
- Sodium sulfate
- Calcium nitrate
- Glucose
- Cellobiose
- Xylitol
- Uric acid
- Chlorophyll
- Urea
- copper sulphate
- Nitric acid
- Lactic acid
- Carbon monoxide
- Lactose