Naming Organic Compounds (Edexcel IGCSE Chemistry (Modular))

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