David F. answered • 05/30/23
“There is no satisfactory substitute for excellence.”
There are four simple rules to name everything under the sun.
First, identify the longest continuous chain. Second, identify if there is functionality within (e.g. alkene or alkyne functionality). Third, after drawing a ‘bubble’ around the longest continuous chain…anything poking outside of that ‘bubble’ is a substituent. Fourth, once you list the substituents….list them once assigning C-1 in alphabetical order. Don’t forget to group identical substituents (e.g. dimethyl), don’t factor the Greek prefix in the ranking (it is not ‘d’ of dimethyl rather ‘m’ of methyl of dimethyl), substituents that are in italics are not alphabetized, and include stereochemistry is applicable (e.g. R/S, cis/trans, and E/Z).
Once you have the name…check your response for accuracy - that is, decane has 10 carbons…be sure your structure’s longest chain has 10 carbons and 2-methylhexane has 7 carbons…longest chain has 6 with a one carbon substituent on C-2 of the six carbon chain.
