Carbon's Building Blocks: An Introduction to Organic Chemistry

Think about three things you might find in your kitchen: a teaspoon of sugar, a drop of sunflower oil, and a strip of chicken. Now think about the instructions inside every cell of your body — your DNA. These four things could not look or feel more different, yet they share one invisible feature. They are all built around the same atom: carbon. Chemists noticed centuries ago that most substances made by living things contain carbon. They called this branch of science 'organic chemistry' — the chemistry of carbon-containing compounds. Today you are going to find out why carbon is such an extraordinary atom, and how it builds the molecules that make life possible.