IUPAC Nomenclature

As organic chemistry's known compounds multiplied rapidly, and their structures grew steadily more complex, simply inventing a fresh trivial name for every new compound stopped being workable -- different chemists sometimes ended up giving the very same compound two DIFFERENT names, creating real confusion. To fix this, the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) was founded in 1919, and under its authority a fully systematic method of organic nomenclature was worked out -- a method that is now accepted and used essentially worldwide, and that is built specifically so that every distinct organic compound gets exactly one unique name. To arrive at any compound's IUPAC name, its structure is conceptually broken down into three building blocks: a PARENT HYDROCARBON (the main chain or ring the name is built around), any BRANCHES (side chains, i.e. substituents hanging off that parent), and any FUNCTIONAL GROUP(S) present. The final IUPAC name is then constructed by taking the parent hydrocarbon's own name and modifying it to incorporate the branches (added in as prefixes) and the functional group(s) (added in as a prefix and/or a suffix, as appropriate) -- all according to a specific, fixed set of rules that IUPAC itself formulated. The remaining subsections of 14.4 work through exactly these rules, one class …