Carbon chemistry

Carbon chemistry is so important that it has a whole branch of chemistry entirely devoted to it - organic chemistry. The number of compounds that contain carbon vastly exceeds all other compounds combined. This course explores how to teach about the special nature of carbon, some of the important classes of compounds it forms, and their most important reactions. It will help you to help your students understand how the complexity of these compounds leads to variation in molecular structures and spatial arrangements of atoms – the topic of isomerism – and how we can use a variety of methods to find out more about these structures.  Topics that students traditionally find difficult, such as reaction mechanisms, are unpicked in detail, and resources are analysed to give concrete approaches for helping students in in the classroom.

After working through this course you will be able to:

• confidently teach about the key aspects of carbon chemistry.
• help students understand and represent structures of carbon compounds;
• confidently teach students about functional groups, their main specific reactions and the principles that govern reactions involving carbon compounds;
• help students explain the factors that lead to variation in the physical properties of carbon compounds;
• confidently teach about organic synthesis and methods for determining the structures of carbon compounds.

Download your course development plan to keep a record of your learning and development.