Question

How do functional groups affect organic molecules?

Answer 1

The organic compounds are identified based on the presence of the specific functional groups. Organic molecules are compounds of carbons elements. Functional groups are mostly composed of heteroatoms like $N$, $O$, $S$, $Cl$ etc.

Complete step by step answer:
Organic compounds or molecules are those compounds which are composed of carbon as on the elements. Besides carbon they contain hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen and sulphur etc.
Functional groups are very important in organic chemistry and they define the identity of a compound. A functional group is defined as an atom or group of atoms which is responsible for specific physical or chemical property of an organic compound. Organic compounds are classified based on the attached functional group.
Every functional group attached to a compound imparts diverse chemical and physical properties than the other. For example the alcohols are the compounds which contain a hydroxyl functional group. They are generally represented as $R - OH$ .
The carboxylic acids contain a carboxyl functional group and are generally represented as $R - COOH$. The esters, amides or anhydrides are derivatives of carboxylic acids. They are represented as the general structures of $RCOOR$, $RCON{H_2}$ and $RCOOCOR$ respectively.
The functional groups are incorporated with the help of chemical reactions. For example the bromination of ethane gives bromoethane which on reaction with alkali hydroxides are converted into corresponding ethanol. Ethane is a gas and ethanol is a liquid. Thus the physical and chemical properties of every compound changes with the addition of new functional groups.

Note: Based on the identification of the functional groups the compound is named. Other physical properties like solubility, melting and boiling points are also changed by the incorporation of different functional groups.