[Aziz Sergeyevich]

Hey,
I was just wondering how functional groups affect an organic substance's ability to synthesis.
I realise they make it more difficult to synthesise, but I would like to know why this is?
Cheers.

[fledarmus]

Almost all organic reactions are functional group reactions. The only organic compounds that do not have functional groups are alkanes, and the reactions that can occur on an alkane are very limited and require comparatively extreme conditions (extreme for organic chemistry, that is). If an organic compound reacts, it will almost always react either at the functional group or at a portion of the molecule which is only active due to the presence of a functional group.

[Babcock_Hall]

When one has two functional groups in a molecule, one might desire that only one group will react, but sometimes the other functional will do so in an undesirable way.  Therefore, one often uses a protecting group to mask one functional group to allow the other one to react smoothly.