The Structure Dependent Energy of Organic Compounds

This brief introduces readers to an alternative thermochemical reference system that makes it possible to use the heats of formation of organic compounds to deduce the energies that depend entirely on their structures, and which provides calculated values for most of the characteristic structures appearing in organic molecules. These structure-dependent energies are provided e.g. for selected compounds of normal and cyclic alkanes, open chain and cyclic olefins (including conjugated polyenes), alkynes, aromatic hydrocarbons and their substituted derivatives. The oxygen, sulfur and nitrogen derivatives of the above-mentioned compounds are also represented with calculated structure-dependent energies including alcohols, ethers, aldehydes and ketones, carboxylic acids, thiols, sulfides, amines, amides, heterocyclic compounds and others. Most organic reactions can be interpreted as the disappearance of certain structures and formation of others. If the structure-dependent energies are known, it can be shown how the disappearing and the newly formed structures contribute to the heat of reactions and to the driving forces. As experienced by the author, who pioneered the concept, structure dependent energies can help teachers to make organic chemistry more accessible for their students. Accordingly, the brief offers a valuable resource for all those who teach organic chemistry at universities, and for those who are learning it.

Árpád Furka got his PhD at the University of Szeged Hungary in 1959. As post doctor he participated in determination of the amino acid sequence of chymotrypsinogen-B at the University of Alberta Canada. From 1972 to 2001 he was full professor at Eötvös Loránd University Budapest Hungary. He wrote a text book for his students in Hungarian: Szerves kémia, Nemzeti Tankönyvkiadó 1988. When writing this book he realized that there is a need for characterization of organic compounds with their reliable structure dependent energies. The result is a series of publications and the content of this book. This approach also makes possible to interpret the heats of reactions as the consequences of transformations of individual structures. Professor Furka is best known as a father of combinatorial chemistry. He first described the principles of this new discipline in a notarized document in 1982.