Question

What is the IUPAC name of this.?

Answer 1

2,3-dicyanopentane

Explanation:

Five carbons, end to end gives prefix: pent-
all single bonds in carbon chain gives suffix: ane
Two substituents, both are cyano group, one is located on 2nd C, one is on 3rd C

Answer 2

The IUPAC name is 2-ethyl-3-methylbutanedinitrile.

Explanation:

The class name for this type of compound is nitrile.

There are two nitrile groups, so this is a dinitrile.

The skeleton structure is

There are four carbon atoms in a row (highlighted in yellow), so this is a butanedinitrile.

Note: "Nitrile''means the triply-bound nitrogen atom, `"≡N"` (highlighted in red) and not the carbon atom attached to it. We start the numbering with that carbon atom.

We do not include the numbers of those carbon atoms in the name because they are automatically at the ends of the chain.

Without substituents, the IUPAC name of this compound is butanedinitrile.

When we add the substituents, we get the structure,

We assign the ethyl group to `"C-2"` because "ethyl" comes before "methyl" alphabetically.

Thus, the correct IUPAC name is 2-ethyl-3-methylbutanedinitrile.