Classification of Nitro Compounds

Nitro compounds (organic compounds containing the -NO2 group) split first into aliphatic nitro compounds and aromatic nitro compounds. Aliphatic nitro compounds further divide into nitroalkanes (R-NO2, the nitro-nitrogen bonded directly to carbon -- e.g. nitroethane, CH3CH2-NO2) and alkylnitrites (R-O-N=O, an isomeric family where the nitrogen is bonded through oxygen instead -- e.g. ethylnitrite, CH3CH2-O-N=O). Aromatic nitro compounds similarly split into nitroarenes, where -NO2 sits directly on the ring (e.g. nitrobenzene, C6H5-NO2), and aryl nitroalkanes, where -NO2 sits on a side-chain carbon attached to the ring (e.g. phenylnitromethane, C6H5-CH2-NO2). Nitroalkanes are further graded as primary, secondary or tertiary by the type of carbon the -NO2 group sits on: nitroethane, CH3-CH2-NO2, is primary (the C-NO2 carbon bears one other carbon); 2-nitropropane, CH3-CH(NO2)-CH3 …