Here's why:

* Organic compounds typically contain carbon and hydrogen, often with other elements like oxygen, nitrogen, sulfur, and halogens.

* Inorganic compounds lack carbon-hydrogen bonds.

Sodium acetate (CH₃COONa) has carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen, but it's considered inorganic because it lacks the defining characteristic of organic compounds - the carbon-hydrogen bond.

While it contains a carbon-containing acetate ion (CH₃COO⁻), the presence of the sodium ion (Na⁺) and the lack of a direct carbon-hydrogen bond makes it an inorganic compound.