So that we are all, to use a well known phrase "singing off the same hymn sheet" the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC - "Yoo Pack" or "Eye-oo-Pack") devised a set of rules so that scientists all over the world when talking about a particular molecule were all familiar.


Taking the simplest organic molecules to start with, the "Alkanes" which are straight-chain molecules consisting of only carbon and hydrogen, when naming the substances we end of the name with "ANE" but the beginning of the name is determined by how many carbon atoms are present, and each number is given a unique prefix. It isn't necessarily the case you need to remember these, but memorising them earlier on may help you later.


Alkanes are also what are known as "saturated" hydrocarbons, this means that each carbon atom is bonded to the next carbon atom by only a single bond, all other possible bonding opportunities are taken either with hydrogen atoms or with substituents. Hydrocarbons which contain multiple bonds, such as carbon to carbon double bonds and carbon to carbon triple bonds are, unsurprisingly known as "unsaturated". We will come to learn about these subsequently.


>> Questions (All Sections) <<