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Organic Chemistry

Structures and Nomenclature

What is the structure of diamond?

Diamond has a repeating structure of carbon atoms in which all the atoms are bonded to four others in a tetrahedral geometry. It’s easiest to see if we first look at the structure of cyclohexane, a ring (cyclo-) of six carbon atoms (-hex-), with no double bonds (-ane).

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If we repeat the structure of cyclohexane over and over, we arrive at the structure for diamond.