help chemical formula

[lilly hunt]

this structure is composed of a repeating unit which has the chemical formula (CH2O)n....the 2 is small and below the h.what does this formula come from ?is it water?cheers.lilly

[Nik]

Been a while since I've done organic chemistry but looks to me like an aldehyde formula C=O with 2 H atoms attached to the carbon. Johnep will correct if I'm wrong. Paraldehyde springs to mind in medicine, rarely used anti-convulsant.

[Asterix]

Been a while since I've done organic chemistry but looks to me like an aldehyde formula C=O with 2 H atoms attached to the carbon. Johnep will correct if I'm wrong. Paraldehyde springs to mind in medicine, rarely used anti-convulsant.

C=0 is a ketone I thought?

[lilly hunt]

i am not saying it says c=o. i was saying c means carbon,soory to mislead you all.but thanks 4 help.lilly.the question is about the structure composed of a repeating unit which has the chemical formula (CH small 2 belowO)n.it can be about an amino acid or protein or polysaccharide or fat or water.thanks lilly.

[johnep]

H2o

[lilly hunt]

that is right ( CH2O)n this is how it is written but i do not know how to type a small underscore 2!!!!!!!!!!!!!! so the formula that is repeated because it has an n is the formula for water!!!!!!!! is that correct?cheers.lilly

[Nik]

No it is carbohydrate - water is H20, doesn't contain C atoms.

[lilly hunt]

so carbohydrates become pollysacharides when they are repeated .the question .this structure is cmposed of a repeating unit which has the chemical formula (CH,small2 O)n.so c atoms are carbon ,h is hydrogen in this case 2 of them because of the small 2 ,then o is for oxygen.................... and the n means the formula is repeated, so carbohydrates= one sugar is monosaccharide,two sugars disaccaharides.pollysahcarides are many monosaccarides. the list i could choose the answer from was amino acid,protein,fat.water or polysacharide.thanks in advance.now back to guns n roses for you? lilly.

[johnep]

Ok. If you want to make a number small in Word, then can use subscript or superscript(to express squares). No such luxury on the forum, so go to size and choose smallest. Was 60 years ago that I did organic chemistry, but seem to remember:

OH alcohol
COOH acid
C-O-C ketone
CHO aldehyde
NH amino acid

Basic organic chemistry book from library should help.
johnep

[lilly hunt]

cheers john once again. simples as they say.