Chemistry · Ch 14 — Basic Principles of Organic Chemistry
IUPAC names of straight chain alkanes
IUPAC names of straight chain alkanes
The homologous series of straight-chain alkanes provides the PARENT HYDROCARBON building block for every aliphatic IUPAC name -- so before any branching, functional group, or ring can be named, the straight-chain alkane names themselves have to be fixed first. Each straight-chain alkane's own IUPAC name is derived directly from how many carbon atoms it contains: a fixed numerical stem (indicating the carbon count) is simply combined with the ending '-ane'. The very first four members of the series -- methane (1 carbon), ethane (2), propane (3), and butane (4) -- keep their long-established stem names AS their official IUPAC names outright, rather than following the general numerical-stem pattern; from the fifth carbon onward, the numerical Greek/Latin stems take over strictly and predictably: pentane (5), hexane (6), heptane (7), octane (8), nonane (9), decane (10), undecane (11), dodecane (12), tridecane (13), tetradecane (14), pentadecane (15), hexadecane (16), heptadecane (17), octadecane (18), nonadecane (19), and icosane (20) -- the full list, together with each one's molecular and condensed formula, i …
Table 14.6 lists, by number of carbons / molecular formula / condensed formula / IUPAC name: 1 CH4 CH4 Methane. 2 C2H6 CH3-CH3 Ethane. 3 C3H8 CH3-CH2-CH3 Propane. 4 C4H10 CH3-(CH2)2-CH3 Butane. 5 C5H12 CH3-(CH2)3-CH3 Pentane. 6 C6H14 Hexane. 7 C7H16 Heptane. 8 C8H18 Octane. 9 C9H20 Nonane. 10 C10H22 Decane. 11 C11H24 Undecane. 12 C12H26 Dodecane. 13 C13H28 Tridecane. 14 C14H30 Tetradecane. 15 C15H32 Pentadecane. 16 C16H34 Hexadecane. 17 C17H36 Heptadecane. 18 C18H38 Octadecane. 19 C19H40 Nonadecane. 20 C20H42 …