Nomenclature of Alkyl Isocyanides

Isocyanides are commonly named as 'alkyl isocyanides' (methyl isocyanide, ethyl isocyanide, phenyl isocyanide), while the IUPAC system instead calls them 'alkylcarbylamines' -- so methyl isocyanide is IUPAC methylcarbylamine, ethyl isocyanide is ethylcarbylamine, propyl isocyanide is propylcarbylamine, and phenyl isocyanide is phenylcarbylamine. The 'carbylamine' root is the same one that names the carbylamine (isocyanide) TEST used earlier to identify primary amines (Section 13.2.6) -- the product of that test is exactly this class of compound, so the common and IUPAC names here describe the identical molecules reached from two different synthetic direc …