Carbon commonly forms compounds with oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen, sulfur, chlorine, and various other elements, resulting in diverse compounds with specific properties.

Carbon’s valency of four allows it to form stable covalent bonds with up to four other atoms, either carbon or atoms of other monovalent elements.

Carbon-carbon bonds are characterized by their strength and stability due to the overlap of atomic orbitals, forming strong covalent bonds. This stability contributes to the longevity and structural integrity of carbon-based molecules.

While silicon can form chains of up to seven or eight atoms, carbon’s catenation allows for much longer and more complex chains, contributing to the vast diversity of carbon compounds found in nature and industry.

Unsaturated compounds contain double or triple bonds between carbon atoms, resulting in fewer hydrogen atoms bonded to the carbon skeleton compared to saturated compounds.