Heteroatom

Hetero atoms (from the Greek heteros, " the other ( of two) " ) are organic chemical compounds such atoms that are not carbon or hydrogen. There are often, but not exclusively, nitrogen, oxygen, sulfur, or phosphorus atoms, which are part of an organic compound (such as cyclic compounds - heterocycles ) are. Because of the electronegativity difference between heteroatoms and carbon or hydrogen bonds between these atoms are mostly polar.

Examples of hetero atoms in organic compounds

• Oxygen in alcohols, amino acids, aldehydes, acetals, ketones, carboxylic acids, esters, ethers, amides, peptides, urethanes, furan, dioxane
• Nitrogen alkaloids, amines, amides, amino acids, imines, isocyanides, nitriles, nitro compounds, urethanes, pyridine, pyrrolidine
• Sulfur in thiols, cysteine, disulfides, sulfides, sulfoxides, sulfones, sulfonic acids, sulfonamides, thiophene
• Phosphorus in phosphines, phosphoric acid esters
• Selenium in selenols, selenides, diselenides, Selenophen
• Tellurium in tellurides
• Fluorine in Teflon
• Chlorine in chloroform, carboxylic acid chlorides
• Bromine in bromobenzene
• Magnesium in Grignard compounds
• Lithium in the organolithium compounds such as n-butyl lithium

• Chemistry