How do you name and represent #"H"_3"CCH(CH"_2"CH"_3")CH(CH"_3")CH"_3#?

1 Answer
anor277
Jan 10, 2018

Well, you gots #"H"_3"CCH(CH"_2"CH"_3")CH(CH"_3")CH"_3#, which I think you call #"2,3-dimethylpentane...."#

Explanation:

And if you draw this out on paper as a zig-zag line....you see that the longest hydrocarbyl chain is 5 carbons long, and so you gots a pentane derivative. And so we try again, and number the chain..

#H_3stackrel(5)C-CH_2stackrel(3)CH(CH_3)stackrel(2)CH(CH_3)stackrel(1)CH_3#..

...the which we would call, #"2,3-dimethylpentane...."#

Note that had I numbered from the LHS as we face the page....we would have got...

#H_3stackrel(1)C-CH_2stackrel(3)CH(CH_3)stackrel(4)CH(CH_3)stackrel(5)CH_3#

...the which we would call, #"3,4-dimethylpentane...."#, and the standard numbering scheme demands that we minimize the substituent numbers....

#"2,3-dimethylpentane...."# it is then....

How many chiral centres are present in this molecule?

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