Organic chemistry

"The central message of chemistry is that the properties of a substance come from its structure. What is less obvious, but very powerful, is the corollary. Someone with training in chemistry can look at the structure of a substance and tell you a lot about its properties. Organic chemistry has always been, and continues to be, the branch of chemistry that best connects structure with properties."

"What is organic chemistry, and why should you study it? The answers to these questions are all around you. Every living organism is made of organic chemicals. … Anyone with a curiosity about life and living things, and anyone who wants to be a part of the remarkable advances now occurring in medicine and the biological sciences, must first understand organic chemistry."

"The present data collection is intended to serve as an aid in the interpretation of molecular spectra for the elucidation and confirmation of the structure of organic compounds. It consists of reference data, spectra, and empirical correlations from 1H, 13C, 19F, and 31P nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), infrared (IR), mass, and ultraviolet–visible (UV/Vis) spectroscopy. It is to be viewed as a supplement to textbooks and specific reference works dealing with these spectroscopic techniques. The use of this book to interpret spectra only requires the knowledge of basic principles of the techniques, but its content is structured in a way that it will serve as a reference book also to specialists."

"The emergence of organic chemistry as a scientific discipline heralded a new era in human development. Applications of organic chemistry contributed significantly to satisfying the basic needs for food, clothing and shelter. While expanding our ability to cope with our basic needs remained an important goal, we could, for the first time, wony about the quality of life. Indeed, there appears to be an excellent correlation between investment in research and applications of organic chemistry and the standard of living."

"The modern definition of organic chemistry is the chemistry of carbon compounds. What is so special about carbon that a whole branch of chemistry is devoted to its compounds? Unlike most other elements, carbon forms strong bonds to other carbon atoms and to a wide variety of other elements. Chains and rings of carbon atoms can be built up to form an endless variety of molecules. It is this diversity of carbon compounds that provides the basis for life on Earth. Living creatures are composed largely of complex organic compounds that serve structural, chemical, or genetic functions."

"Organic chemistry is the chemistry of compounds that contain the element carbon. … carbon compounds are central to the structure of living organisms and therefore to the existence of life on Earth. We exist because of carbon compounds."