Carbon of interconnecting carbon–carbon bonds, a property that is called catenation. Carbon-carbon bonds are strong and stable. Through catenation, carbon forms a countless number of compounds. A tally of unique compounds shows that more contain carbon that those that do not. A similar claim can be made for hydrogen because most organic compounds also contain hydrogen. The simplest form of an organic molecule is the hydrocarbon—a large family of organic molecules that are composed of hydrogen atoms bonded to a chain of carbon atoms. A hydrocarbon backbone can be substituted by other atoms, known as heteroatoms. Common heteroatoms that appear in
Borrowing hydrogen is a poor electrophile itself, see tosylation or Swern oxidation). The method is not limited to the preparation of amines, it can also be used to form Carbon–carbon bonds (C-C bonds). Alcohols can be temporarily converted into carbonyl compounds by the metal-catalysed removal of hydrogen. The carbonyl compounds are reactive in a wider range of transformations than the precursor alcohols and can react in situ to give imines, alkenes, and α-functionalised carbonyl compounds. The metal catalyst, which had borrowed the hydrogen, then returns it to the transformed carbonyl compound, leading to an overall process in which alcohols can be converted