Category:Type of chemicals

First of all, chemical compounds are divided into organic and inorganic compounds:

Organic compounds are compounds consisting of carbon atoms with a limited number of other elements such as hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen. In total there are about 10 million organic compounds.

Inorganic compounds contain all other elements, but account for fewer than 1 million compounds.

Organic compounds are traditionally considered to be of biological origin, because organic compounds are mainly found in all living creatures. For instance, the cellulose in trees and proteins in humans and other animals are organic compounds.

Inorganic compounds are compounds that cannot be classified as organic compounds. These compounds are considered to be of mineral origin, since majority of the earth’s crust is made up out of inorganic compounds. Most inorganic compounds are salts.

There is a third small group called organometallic substances. These substances contain bonds between carbon and a metal.