Production of Materials > 3. Renewable Ethanol >
Identify the IUPAC nomenclature for straight-chained alkanols from 1 to C8
- The prefix of the names of straight-chained alkanols denotes the number of carbon atoms in the chain:
| Prefix | Meth | Eth | Prop | But | Pent | Hex | Hept | Oct |
| Carbon atoms | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 |
- All straight-chained alkanols have the suffix ‘-anol’:
- ‘an’ denotes all single bonds between carbon atoms.
- ‘ol’ denotes the presence of a hydroxy (OH) group.
- When there is more than one possible position for the hydroxy group, a number denotes which carbon atom has the hydroxy group attached.
- Examples include methanol (CH3OH) and 2-butanol (CH3CHOHCH2CH3).
Above: Structures of Methanol and Ethanol;
Below: Structures of Propanol and Butanol
