The main organic functional groups are specific atoms or groups of atoms that determine a compound’s characteristic reactions and help define its homologous series. For IB Chemistry, you should recognize them from full, condensed, stereochemical, and skeletal formulas. At both SL and HL, the key set includes alkenes, halogenoalkanes, alcohols, ethers, aldehydes, ketones, carboxylic acids, amines, esters, and amides.
Functional Groups and Compound Classes
A functional group is not always identical to the name of the compound class. For example, the hydroxyl group occurs in alcohols, while the carbonyl group occurs in both aldehydes and ketones.
| Functional group | Structural feature | Compound class and naming clue |
|---|---|---|
| Carbon-carbon double bond | Alkene; suffix -ene | |
| Halogeno | , , , or |