Quick Orgo Naming Question

[andafoo]

I'm reading EK right now and they claim that:

"methyl carbons have no attached alkyl groups, primary carbons have one, secondary have two .. etc"

I'm used to methyl groups being considered primary carbons, because methyl groups do have an R group... the rest of the molecule.

Does it seem like they are replacing what should be methane with methyl group?

Anyone have the same confusion?

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[bluemonkey]

I'm reading EK right now and they claim that:

"methyl carbons have no attached alkyl groups, primary carbons have one, secondary have two .. etc"

I'm used to methyl groups being considered primary carbons, because methyl groups do have an R group... the rest of the molecule.

Does it seem like they are replacing what should be methane with methyl group?

Anyone have the same confusion?

Sounds like a typo to me. I think they were shooting for methane have no attached carbons. A methyl group definitely is a primary carbon...

 

[Quantum Chem]

I'm not sure what section that this is in, but what I think they are referring to is some sort of stability. Such as a methyl carbocation is the least stable, while a tertiary carbocation is the stable. This could also be applied to an SN1 reaction.