Topological formula

not to confuse with the concept of topological Space in Mathematical . ---- The topological formula is a molecular representation used in Organic chemistry.

Indeed, the organic compounds being made up primarily many Atom S of Carbon and Hydrogen, the traditional molecular representations quickly become illegible. In a preoccupation with a simplification, the chemists took the practice to represent the molecules which they handle without making appear the hydrogen and carbon atoms.

In practice, one does not make appear:

hydrogen atoms carried by carbon atoms,
the CH connections,
carbon atoms, but well the connections which they carry out.

One represents in fact the hydrogen and carbon atoms only when one draws a developed formula , or when those are important .

Let us take the example of the propan-2-ol. This alcohol has for empirical formula C₃H₈O and a developed formula:

The chemist however will represent this alcohol in the form:

The example of a molecule such as the Clérodine (below) watch which these simplifications are essential: 21 hydrogen atoms and 22 carbon atoms are in this voluntarily omitted case. The structure “supplements” (with all the atoms) would be perfectly incomprehensible!

See too

various systems of Representation of the molecules
the Organic chemistry
the inorganic Chemistry

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