100 Nano-Stories: Alcohols!
Episode #57: Overview + Naming!
Preface!✨
It’s your favorite material science & nanotechnology enthusiast! I began to explain the optical properties behind transparent aerogels using mathematics!
100 Nano-Stories: Haze In Transparent Aerogels (Math)!
Episode #56: Haze Equation!
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But today, I want to clear something up in terms of organic chemistry before we move on further with transparent aerogel research! We have to briefly discuss alcohols!
And, no I don’t mean the ones that can get you a speeding ticket! 😂
I mean the ones in organic chemistry!
Overview Of Alcohols! 💡
Alcohol (organic chemistry) is a methyl group attached to a hydroxyl group.
Methyl → “CH3”/“R”. Sometimes a methyl group may be written as “R” instead of “CH3”.
Hydroxyl → “OH”.
In other forms of naming a molecule, we have used the suffixes “ane”, “ene”, or “yne”.
But for alcohol, we use the suffix “ol” and include it at the end of naming the alcohol.
Let’s briefly do 2 examples! 😄
Examples! 🔑
The answer is right there in front of you, but do you know how we were able to get the answer?
The first step is to count the longest chain of carbons possible! That will be our main carbon chain!
(To identify the main carbon chain, look for every bump in the molecule! Each bump counts as a carbon! The longest line of bumps wins!)
As you can see, there are three carbons in the molecule, and three carbons use the prefix “prop”. So this is a Propanol.
Authors Note: Some of you might think of the longest carbon chain in this photo to look like this:
That is okay for this example (since the methyl group is still on the same carbon number)! But other times, you will only have one option of the longest carbon chain! 😁
The next step is to identify the number of substituents (atoms/molecules attached to the main carbon chain) and count the number of carbons! Counting the number of carbons/atoms will allow you to properly name the prefix of the molecule!
Since the longest branch of carbon atoms is connected to the OH Group, there is one additional branch that is linked to the main carbon chain!
All substituents end with the suffix “yl”.
So we will add 2-methyl in front of the main branch “propanol” because the methyl group is attached to the second carbon chain!
Finally, we look for what carbon number the OH Group is located in the molecule!
In this case, the OH Group is located on Carbon #1, so we can include that in front of the main carbon name (propanol).
And that is how we name 2-methyl 1-propanol.
In the end, to name an alcohol, remember these steps:
- Identify the longest chain of carbons possible! That will be our main carbon chain!
- Identify the number of substituents (atoms/molecules attached to the main carbon chain) and count the number of carbons!
- Identify what carbon number the OH Group is located in the molecule!
- (If necessary, identify if there are double/triple bonds of carbon atoms! These are alkenes/alkynes!)
Closing Thoughts! 💭
The overview of alcohols is finished and the steps to identify and name the alcohol in organic chemistry!
See you tomorrow for the properties of alcohol! ✌🏽
Vocabulary! 📓
Alcohol (organic chemistry) is a methyl group attached to a hydroxyl group.
Methyl → “CH3”/“R”. Sometimes a methyl group may be written as “R” instead of “CH3”.
Hydroxyl → “OH”.
“yl”/moieties → A substituent, or chemically bonded parts of molecules attached to a larger backbone/ring. Essentially, it is not part of the main carbon chain.
Alkane → Single Bonds occur between carbon atoms in a molecule in organic chemistry.
Alkenes → Double Bonds occur between carbon atoms in a molecule in organic chemistry.
Alkynes → An organic compound that is only made out of carbon & hydrogen atoms, only triple covalent bonds.
Bonus Resources! 💻
Previous “100 Nano-Stories!” 🔖
© 2021 by Carlos Manuel Jarquin Sanchez. All Rights Reserved.
