Naming Organic Compounds (Edexcel IGCSE Chemistry)

Spec point — understand how to name compounds relevant to this specification using the rules of International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) nomenclature students will be expected to name compounds containing up to six carbon atoms

Naming organic compounds

Names of compounds

• The names of organic compounds have two parts: the prefix or stem and the end part (or suffix)
• The prefix tells you how many carbon atoms are present in the longest continuous chain in the compound
• The suffix tells you what functional group is on the compound

Examples of naming organic molecules

Further rules for naming compounds

• When there is more than one carbon atom where a functional group can be located it is important to distinguish exactly which carbon the functional group is on
• Each carbon is numbered and these numbers are used to describe where the functional group is
• When 2 functional groups are present di- is used as a prefix to the second part of the name

Naming isomers

Isomers can be distinguished by following the naming rules

Exam Hint For Double Award, you’re mainly expected to name simple (straight-chain) compounds and unbranched isomers.

You might still see branched names in questions, so make sure you understand that the numbers show the positions of side chains, but you usually won’t need to generate branched names from scratch