"In earlier times, when relatively few pure organic chemicals were known, new compounds were named at the whim of their discoverer … As the science of organic chemistry slowly grew in the 19th century, so too did the number of known compounds and the need for a systematic method of naming them. … A chemical name typically has four parts in the IUPAC system of nomenclature: prefix, parent, locant, and suffix. The prefix identifies the various substituent groups in the molecule, the parent selects a main part of the molecule and tells how many carbon atoms are in that part, the locants give the positions of the functional groups and substituents, and the suffix identifies the primary functional group. … For historical reasons, some of the simpler branched-chain alkyl groups also have nonsystematic, common names, as noted earlier."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
John McMurry, Organic Chemistry 8th ed. (2012), Ch. 3 : Organic Compounds: Alkanes and Their Stereochemistry
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/IUPAC_nomenclature_of_organic_chemistry
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
IUPAC nomenclature of organic chemistry
1 quote on TrueQuotesView all quotes by IUPAC nomenclature of organic chemistry →
Related Quotes
"Constitutional isomerism is not limited to alkanes—it occurs widely throughout organic chemistry. Constitutional isom…"
"The construction of a synthetic tree by working backward from the target molecule (TM) is called retrosynthetic analy…"
"Molecules that are not identical to their mirror images are kinds of stereoisomers called enantiomers (Greek enantio,…"
"In contrast with enantiomers, diastereomers, because they are not mirror images of each other, are molecules with dif…"
"Metals, particularly lithium and magnesium, act on haloalkanes to generate new compounds, called organometallic reage…"
"During the first half of this century most syntheses were developed by selecting an appropriate starting material, af…"
"When chemists make chiral compounds—molecules that behave like object and mirror image, such as amino acids, sugars, …"
"Note carefully the difference between enantiomers and diastereomers: enantiomers have opposite configurations at all …"
"If we were to isolate each enantiomer in pure form, we would find that we could not distinguish between them on the b…"
"Organometallic chemists try to understand how organic molecules or groups interact with compounds of the inorganic el…"