Question

Why is it important to have a basic understanding of organic chemistry?

Answer 1

Because if you eat it, drink it, smoke it, inject it, or are prescribed it by a doctor, the stuff you are taking is organic.

Explanation:

Organic chemistry is a broader category of biochemistry, which is the chemistry of life. I do not suggest that the examples I offer are definitive or complete, but organic chemistry allows us to live beyond 30.

Given the wealth of biochemistry, it is astonishing that organic chemists exploit very few ways of `C-C` bond formation to create that array. Drug synthesis is just one example, where not only industrial quantities of medicine are produced, these medicines are optically pure as well as chemically pure. As citizens in the modern age, we should have an idea of the complexity of chemistry so that we can make informed choices with respect to the usage of (limited) natural resources.