Organic Compounds

These are Carbon Compounds where principal bonds are Carbon to Carbon or Carbon to Hydrogen.
The most abundant elements in organic compounds are:

Carbon (4 bonds)
Hydrogen (1 bond)
Oxygen (2 bonds)
Nitrogen (3 bonds)
Sulphur (2 bonds)
Phosphorus (5 bonds)

Carbon Compounds have a number of properties making it useful for living organisms:

• Carbon can bond to Carbon to form huge chains and an almost limitless variety of large molecules.
• The large chains are usually non-polar and so don't dissolve in water therefore useful as building materials.
• Covalent bonding means the compound can be broken down without immediate reformation of bond and so can be a useful source of energy.