Organic Chemistry Carbon Chains/Circles/Names

CH4

Methane

C2H6

Ethane

C3H8

Propane

C4H10

Butane

C5H12

Pentane

C6H14

Hexane

C7H16

Heptane

C8H18

Octane

C9H20

Nonane

C10H22

Decane

General Formula for an Open-Chain Alkane

C(N)H2(N)+2

Smallest Solid Alkane

C11H24

C4H10 Isomers

Butane and Isobutane

C8H12 Isomers

Pentane, Isopentane, and Neopentane

Naming Rules

1) Base Name on Longest All-Carbon Chain

2) Appendages on main chain are treated as substituents or substitutes for H's on the chain

3) Location of substituents are denoted by numbers

4) Number chain to give smaller number at first "point of difference"

5) Group identified substituents by name and show how many with numerical prefix.

6) Each substituent gets its own number (#,#)

7) Substituents of the same kind on different carbons are listed in increasing numerical order

8) Two "First Place" Substituents equidistant from the end of chain, minimize # of second substituent

9) Halogen Substituent Names and Alkyl substituents (Names on another)

10) Substituents of different kinds are alphabetized in the name (Numbering follows rule above)

11) Ignore Numerical Prefixes when Alphabetizing

12) If numbering is the same in both directions, give lower number alphabetically

13)If there are two long chains of equal length, choose the main chain with more but simpler substitutes.

Numerical Prefixes

1-mono

2-di

3-tri

4-tetra

5-penta

6-hexa

7-hepta

8-octa

9-nona

10-deca

Halogen substituents

F: flouro-

Cl: chloro-

Br: bromo-

I: iodo-

Alkyl Substituents

CH3: Methyl

CH3CH2: Ethyl

CH3CH2CH2: Propyl

Isopropyl

Isobutyl

"sec"-butyl

"tert"-butyl

Neopentyl

Cyclopropane

C3H6

Cyclobutane

C4H8

Cyclopentane

C5H10

Cyclohexane

C6H12

Cycloheptane

C7H14

Cyclooctane

C8H16

General formula for CycloAlkanes

CnH2n