Organic compounds are the basis of life on earth. The purpose of this discussion is research the importance of these compounds that make up life on earth. A wide variety of classes of substances, such as drugs, vitamins, plastics, natural and synthetic fibers, as well as carbohydrates, proteins, and fats, consist of organic molecules. Organic chemists determine the structures of organic molecules, study their various reactions, and develop procedures for the synthesis of organic compounds. The arrival of organic chemistry is often associated with the discovery in 1828 by the German chemist Wöhler that the inorganic, or mineral, substance called ammonium cyanate could be converted in the laboratory to urea, an organic substance found in the urine of many animals. Before this discovery, chemists thought that intervention by a so-called life force was necessary for the synthesis of organic substances. Wöhler's experiment broke down the barrier between inorganic and organic substances. Modern chemists consider organic compounds to be those containing carbon and one or more other elements, most often hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, sulfur, or the halogens, but sometimes others as well. The consequences of the unique properties of carbon are manifest in the simplest class of organic compounds-the aliphatic, or straight-chain, hydrocarbons.

             To begin with, the alkane series, composed of methane, ethane, propane, butane, etc., is made up of colorless, odorless gases which are flammable. Their most common location is in natural gas, firedamp in coal mines, by-products of petroleum refining, and products of decomposition of matter in swamps and marshlands. Their most common use is as a fossil fuel.

             Compounds of hydroxyl include methyl alcohol, ethyl alcohol, formaldehyde, and ethanoic acid. Methyl alcohol is made either from the distillation of wood, or the combination of hydrogen and carbon monoxide.