• Question: What is the difference between organic chemistry and chemistry?

    Asked by anon-361015 on 28 Mar 2023.
    • Photo: Rebecca Woods

      Rebecca Woods answered on 28 Mar 2023:

      Organic chemistry is a branch of chemistry. The 3 main branches are Organic chemistry (the study of (hydro)carbon based compounds – mostly C,H, O, N, P, S, Halogens), inorganic chemistry (metal based compounds) and Physical chemistry (boardering on physics). The devisions aren’t set in stone, and there’s collaboration between branches and between sciences.

    • Photo: Martin McCoustra

      Martin McCoustra answered on 28 Mar 2023:

      Chemistry is traditionally taught through it’s three sub-disciplines… organic chemistry looks at the chemistry of carbon containing molecule; inorganic chemistry looks at the chemistries of all the other elements; and physical chemistry uses the tools of maths and physics to build a foundation on how to explain the detailed workings of chemistry.

    • Photo: Graeme Dykes

      Graeme Dykes answered on 28 Mar 2023:

      Organic chemistry is a group within the general topic of chemistry. It is predominantly the chemistry of carbon compounds. Of course, most drugs are molecules containing also hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen and sometimes sulfur! It is a both a theoretical area and a practical one. It underpins a lot of molecular biology.
      The big thing is that you can design and build up molecules using a huge array of reactions

    • Photo: Jade Markham

      Jade Markham answered on 31 Mar 2023:

      Organic chemistry is a part of chemistry – it mostly is C and H containing molecules with some extras like O, N, P

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