The naming of alkanes follows three main rules:
1. Identify the parent alkane chain and add the "-ane" suffix. For cycloalkanes add the "cyclo-" prefix.
2. Number the parent chain to assign the lowest number to substituents.
3. Name substituents as alkyl groups and combine with parent name and numbers, separating numbers with commas and hyphens.
The naming of alkanes follows three main rules:
1. Identify the parent alkane chain and add the "-ane" suffix. For cycloalkanes add the "cyclo-" prefix.
2. Number the parent chain to assign the lowest number to substituents.
3. Name substituents as alkyl groups and combine with parent name and numbers, separating numbers with commas and hyphens.
The naming of alkanes follows three main rules:
1. Identify the parent alkane chain and add the "-ane" suffix. For cycloalkanes add the "cyclo-" prefix.
2. Number the parent chain to assign the lowest number to substituents.
3. Name substituents as alkyl groups and combine with parent name and numbers, separating numbers with commas and hyphens.
The naming of alkanes follows three main rules:
1. Identify the parent alkane chain and add the "-ane" suffix. For cycloalkanes add the "cyclo-" prefix.
2. Number the parent chain to assign the lowest number to substituents.
3. Name substituents as alkyl groups and combine with parent name and numbers, separating numbers with commas and hyphens.
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Alkanes - Nomenclature
The name of every organic molecule has 3 parts:
1. The parent name indicates the number of carbons in the longest continuous chain. 2. The suffix indicates what functional group is present. 3. The prefix tells us the identity, location, and number of substituents attached to the carbon chain. Alkanes - Nomenclature
Parent – Longest straight carbon chain
Alkanes - Nomenclature
Suffix – Our first functional group is alkane, so the suffix is –ane
For later functional groups we will drop the –ane root suffix for others Alkane chain # Carbons Name CH4 1 methane CH3CH3 2 ethane CH3CH2CH3 3 propane CH3CH2CH2CH3 4 butane CH3CH2CH2CH2CH3 5 pentane CH3CH2CH2CH2CH2CH3 6 hexane CH3CH2CH2CH2CH2CH2CH3 7 heptane CH3CH2CH2CH2CH2CH2CH2CH3 8 octane CH3CH2CH2CH2CH2CH2CH2CH2CH3 9 nonane CH3CH2CH2CH2CH2CH2CH2CH2CH2CH3 10 decane CH3CH2CH2CH2CH2CH2CH2CH2CH2CH2CH3 11 undecane CH3CH2CH2CH2CH2CH2CH2CH2CH2CH2CH2CH3 12 dodecane Alkanes - Nomenclature
Prefix – Our substituents will be branches in the alkane structure
A branch is another alkane minus one hydrogen – an alkyl group Example – if CH3- is a branch on a longer chain:
CH3- is CH4 minus 1 hydrogen
Since it is a side chain it will replace the –ane suffix with –yl
CH3- is a methyl group
We can also abbreviate this group as Me-
Alkanes - Nomenclature
Prefixes - Alkyl group Structure IUPAC name Abbreviation
CH3- CH3- methyl Me-
CH3CH2- ethyl Et-
CH3CH2CH2- n-propyl n-Pr
CH3CHCH3 isopropyl or i-propyl i-Pr
CH3CH2CH2CH2- n-butyl n-Bu
CH3CH2CHCH3 sec-butyl s-Bu
(CH3)2CHCH2- isobutyl or i-butyl i-Bu
(CH3)3C- tert-butyl or t-butyl t-Bu
C6H5- phenyl Ph Alkanes - Nomenclature
1. Find the parent carbon chain and add the suffix.
Note that it does not matter if the chain is straight or it bends.
Alkanes - Nomenclature
Also note that if there are two chains of equal length, pick the chain with more substituents. In the following example, two different chains in the same alkane have seven C atoms. We circle the longest continuous chain as shown in the diagram on the left, since this results in the greater number of substituents. Alkanes - Nomenclature
2. Number the atoms in the carbon chain to give the first
substituent the lowest number. Alkanes - Nomenclature
If the first substituent is the same distance from both ends,
number the chain to give the second substituent the lower number. Alkanes - Nomenclature
When numbering a carbon chain results in the same numbers
from either end of the chain, assign the lower number alphabetically to the first substituent. Alkanes - Nomenclature
3. Name and number the substituents.
• Name the substituents as alkyl groups. • Every carbon belongs to either the longest chain or a substituent, not both. • Each substituent needs its own number • If two or more identical substituents are bonded to the longest chain, use prefixes to indicate how many: di- for two groups, tri- for three groups, tetra- for four groups, and so forth. Alkanes - Nomenclature
4. Combine substituent names and numbers + parent and suffix.
• Precede the name of the parent by the names of the substituents. • Alphabetize the names of the substituents, ignoring all prefixes except iso, as in isopropyl and isobutyl. • Precede the name of each substituent by the number that indicates its location. • Separate numbers by commas and separate numbers from letters by hyphens. The name of an alkane is a single word, with no spaces after hyphens and commas. 1.) 2.)
4.) 3.)
5.) 6.) Alkanes - Nomenclature
Cycloalkanes are named by using similar rules, but the prefix
cyclo- immediately precedes the name of the parent.
1. Find the parent cycloalkane.
Alkanes - Nomenclature
2. Name and number the substituents. No number is needed to
indicate the location of a single substituent.
For rings with more than one substituent, begin numbering at
one substituent and proceed around the ring to give the second substituent the lowest number. Alkanes - Nomenclature
With two different substituents, number the ring to assign the
lower number to the substituents alphabetically.
Note the special case of an alkane composed of both a ring
and a long chain. If the number of carbons in the ring is greater than or equal to the number of carbons in the longest chain, the compound is named as a cycloalkane. Alkanes - Nomenclature Alkanes - Nomenclature
