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Naming halogen-substituted alkanes

Name the molecule whose structure is shown here:

This structure shows a C atom bonded to the H atoms and another C atom. This second C atom is bonded to two H atoms and another C atom. This third C atom is bonded to a B r atom and another C atom. This fourth C atom is bonded to two H atoms and a C l atom.

Solution

This structure shows a C atom bonded to the H atoms and another C atom. This second C atom is bonded to two H atoms and another C atom. This third C atom is bonded to an H atom, a B r atom, and another C atom. This fourth C atom is bonded to two H atoms and a C l atom. The C atoms are numbered 4, 3, 2, and 1 from left to right.

The four-carbon chain is numbered from the end with the chlorine atom. This puts the substituents on positions 1 and 2 (numbering from the other end would put the substituents on positions 3 and 4). Four carbon atoms means that the base name of this compound will be butane. The bromine at position 2 will be described by adding 2-bromo-; this will come at the beginning of the name, since bromo- comes before chloro- alphabetically. The chlorine at position 1 will be described by adding 1-chloro-, resulting in the name of the molecule being 2-bromo-1-chlorobutane.

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Name the following molecule:

This figure shows a C atom bonded to three H atoms and another C atom. This second C atom is bonded to two H atoms and a third C atom. The third C atom is bonded to two B r atoms and a fourth C atom. This C atom is bonded to an H atom, and I atom, and a fifth C atom. This last C atom is bonded to three H atoms.

Answer:

3,3-dibromo-2-iodopentane

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We call a substituent that contains one less hydrogen than the corresponding alkane an alkyl group. The name of an alkyl group    is obtained by dropping the suffix -ane of the alkane name and adding -yl :

In this figure, methane is named and represented as C with four H atoms bonded above, below, to the left, and to the right of the C. The methyl group is shown, which appears like methane without the right most H. A dash remains at the location where the H was formerly bonded. Ethane is named and represented with two centrally bonded C atoms to which six H atoms are bonded; two above and below each of the two C atoms and to the left and right ends of the linked C atoms. The ethyl group appears as a similar structure with the right-most H atom removed. A dash remains at the location where the H atom was formerly bonded.

The open bonds in the methyl and ethyl groups indicate that these alkyl groups are bonded to another atom.

Naming substituted alkanes

Name the molecule whose structure is shown here:

A chain of six carbon atoms, numbered 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, and 1 is shown. Bonded above carbon 3, a chain of two carbons is shown, numbered 1 and 2 moving upward. H atoms are present directly above, below, left and right of all carbon atoms in positions not already taken up in bonding to other carbon atoms.

Solution

The longest carbon chain runs horizontally across the page and contains six carbon atoms (this makes the base of the name hexane, but we will also need to incorporate the name of the branch). In this case, we want to number from right to left (as shown by the blue numbers) so the branch is connected to carbon 3 (imagine the numbers from left to right—this would put the branch on carbon 4, violating our rules). The branch attached to position 3 of our chain contains two carbon atoms (numbered in red)—so we take our name for two carbons eth- and attach -yl at the end to signify we are describing a branch. Putting all the pieces together, this molecule is 3-ethylhexane.

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Name the following molecule:

This figure shows a C atom bonded to three H atoms and another C atom. This C atom is bonded to two H atoms and third C atom. The third C atom is bonded to two H atoms and a fourth C atom. The fourth C atom is bonded to two H atoms and a fifth C atom. This C atom is bonded to an H atom, a sixth C atom in the chain, and another C atom which appears to branch off the chain. The C atom in the branch is bonded to two H atoms and another C atom. This C atom is bonded to two H atoms and another C atom. This third C atom appears to the left of the second and is bonded to three H atoms. The sixth C atom in the chain is bonded to two H atoms and a seventh C atom. The seventh C atom is bonded to two H atoms and an eighth C atom. The eighth C atom is bonded to three H atoms.

Answer:

4-propyloctane

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Some hydrocarbons can form more than one type of alkyl group when the hydrogen atoms that would be removed have different “environments” in the molecule. This diversity of possible alkyl groups can be identified in the following way: The four hydrogen atoms in a methane molecule are equivalent; they all have the same environment. They are equivalent because each is bonded to a carbon atom (the same carbon atom) that is bonded to three hydrogen atoms. (It may be easier to see the equivalency in the ball and stick models in [link] . Removal of any one of the four hydrogen atoms from methane forms a methyl group. Likewise, the six hydrogen atoms in ethane are equivalent ( [link] ) and removing any one of these hydrogen atoms produces an ethyl group. Each of the six hydrogen atoms is bonded to a carbon atom that is bonded to two other hydrogen atoms and a carbon atom. However, in both propane and 2–methylpropane, there are hydrogen atoms in two different environments, distinguished by the adjacent atoms or groups of atoms:

In this figure, propane is shown as a chain of three bonded C atoms. Eight H atoms are shown with three bonded to the first C atom, two to the middle C atom, and three to the third C atom. The H atoms bonded to the middle C atom are purple. 2 dash methylpropane is also shown, which similarly has a chain of three bonded C atoms. In this structure, A C atom is bonded beneath the middle C atom of the chain. Ten H atoms are shown with three bonded to the first C atom, one to the middle C atom, three to the third C atom, and three to the C atom also bonded to the middle C atom. The H atom bonded to the middle C atom is green.

Each of the six equivalent hydrogen atoms of the first type in propane and each of the nine equivalent hydrogen atoms of that type in 2-methylpropane (all shown in black) are bonded to a carbon atom that is bonded to only one other carbon atom. The two purple hydrogen atoms in propane are of a second type. They differ from the six hydrogen atoms of the first type in that they are bonded to a carbon atom bonded to two other carbon atoms. The green hydrogen atom in 2-methylpropane differs from the other nine hydrogen atoms in that molecule and from the purple hydrogen atoms in propane. The green hydrogen atom in 2-methylpropane is bonded to a carbon atom bonded to three other carbon atoms. Two different alkyl groups can be formed from each of these molecules, depending on which hydrogen atom is removed. The names and structures of these and several other alkyl groups are listed in [link] .

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Source:  OpenStax, Chemistry. OpenStax CNX. May 20, 2015 Download for free at http://legacy.cnx.org/content/col11760/1.9
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