Organic chemistry
![Methane, CH4, in line-angle representation, showing four carbon-hydrogen single (σ) bonds in black, and the 3D shape of such tetrahedral molecules, with ~109° interior bond angles, in green. Methane is the simplest organic chemical and simplest hydrocarbon, and molecules can be built up conceptually from it by exchanging up to all 4 hydrogens with carbon or other atoms.](/Images/godic/202502/14/Ch4-structure1200.png")
![Line-angle representationBall-and-stick representationSpace-filling representationThree representations of an organic compound, 5α-Dihydroprogesterone (5α-DHP), a steroid hormone. For molecules showing color, the carbon atoms are in black, hydrogens in gray, and oxygens in red. In the line angle representation, carbon atoms are implied at every terminus of a line and vertex of multiple lines, and hydrogen atoms are implied to fill the remaining needed valences (up to 4).](/Images/godic/202502/14/5-alpha-dihydroprogesterone1200.png")
![To be supplied](/Images/godic/202502/14/5alpha-Dihydroprogesterone_3D_ball1200.png")
![To be supplied](/Images/godic/202502/14/5alpha-Dihydroprogesterone_3D_spacefill1200.png")
Organic chemistry is a chemistry subdiscipline involving the scientific study of the structure, properties, and reactions of organic compounds and organic materials, i.e., matter in its various forms that contain carbon atoms. Study of structure includes many physical and chemical methods to determine the chemical composition and the chemical constitution of organic compounds and materials. Study of properties includes both physical properties and chemical properties, and uses similar methods as well as methods to evaluate chemical reactivity, with the aim to understand the behavior of the organic matter in its pure form (when possible), but also in solutions, mixtures, and fabricated forms. The study of organic reactions includes probing their scope through use in preparation of target compounds (e.g., natural products, drugs, polymers, etc.) by chemical synthesis, as well as the focused study of the reactivities of individual organic molecules, both in the laboratory and via theoretical (in silico) study.