Chapter 1: Basic Concepts in Chemical Bonding and Organic Molecules

Before starting the journey in Organic Chemistry, reviewing some basic knowledge from the General Chemistry course will be very helpful and important. We will begin with chemical bonding and review how to draw a Lewis Structure to show and predict the bonding in a chemical species followed by Valence Bond Theory and Hybridization to explain how the bonds are formed.

Learning Objectives for this chapter:

• Explain and describe chemical bonding using Valence Bond Theory and hybridization.
• Draw plausible Lewis structure, recognize bonding and non-bonding (lone pair) electrons, and count formal charges.
• Draw major resonance structures of simple organic molecules, compare the relative stability of different resonance contributors, and use this information to determine the relative stability of organic molecules and ions.
• Apply VSEPR theory to explain the shape of simple organic molecules.