O Chem Nomenclature Help

[sugarbabee0]

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Its been a while since i took organic chemistry. Got stuck on a problem that mentions "ethyl n-butyrate" . I know what ethyl and butyrate is but dont seem to remember what the "n" represents. any help would be appreciated. Thanks 🙂

 

[GRod18]

ya thats what I get for not paying attention to the question lol

 

[Rabolisk]

n-butyrate is just butanoate. A butyrate is a carboxylate with 4 carbons, and the n is meant to distinguish it from isobutyrate. In IUPAC, isobutyrate is 2-methylpropanoate. I wouldn't worry too much about this though, because I doubt that you would see a question that required you to know exactly what n-butyrate is.

 

[Rabolisk]

Your knowledge is great, GRod18, but your answer was completely irrelevant... hehe. Anyway, how are things? I would get to your questions, but I am terrible at fluids.

 

[GRod18]

Your knowledge is great, GRod18, but your answer was completely irrelevant... hehe. Anyway, how are things? I would get to your questions, but I am terrible at fluids.

haha ok, I always thought that n was just a straight alkane chain, I found that sentence on wiki so I figure I'd just paste it lol..

Don't worry about the fluids, maybe fizzgig will give it a go tomorrow.

 

[orgohacks]

Its been a while since i took organic chemistry. Got stuck on a problem that mentions "ethyl n-butyrate" . I know what ethyl and butyrate is but dont seem to remember what the "n" represents. any help would be appreciated. Thanks 🙂

The "n" means "normal" as in, "straight chain", to differentiate from the branched-chain isomers.

For instance, "n-hexane" is straight-chain hexane, C6H14.

Not to be confused with the N- designation, which signifies a substituent directly bound to nitrogen.

Some of the confusing nomenclature conventions are summarized here:

http://masterorganicchemistry.wordpress.com/2010/06/14/9-nomenclature-conventions-to-know/

hope this helps - James