Thread:User talk:Armondikov/Mr. the Chemist/reply (4)

The distinction is arbitrary now we know atomic and molecular structure, but the classifications are historical based on substances associated with life. Less arbitrary distinctions can be derived from structural qualities rather than elementary ones. So, "distinct small entities of covalently bonded carbon" would be a more apt description of organic molecules than "contains carbon", while inorganic would be split between metallic co-ordination complexes and extended crystals as studied in mineralogy. And then there's organometallics at the interface of all that.