A Conversation for Alkanoic acids
propan-2-ol
Sea Change Started conversation Aug 29, 2003
Does the carboxyl group need to be on the end?
to-may-toh, to-mah-to
Sea Change Posted Aug 29, 2003
Is ethanoic pronounced eeth-an-oyk, or eth-an-oh-ic?
to-may-toh, to-mah-to
Rho Posted Aug 29, 2003
It's only possible for the COOH group to be on the end of a C-C chain. It's pronounced 'eth-an-oh-ic', by the way!
RhoMuNuQ
CO at OH
SEF Posted Aug 30, 2003
NB There isn't anything mysterious about COOH only being at the end of a chain. It is simply that the carbon has run out of covalent bonds (outer shell electrons to make pairs). C has 4 possible bonds (unpaired electrons). The O uses 2 of them and the OH another 1 (that O uses 1 for the C and 1 for the H). This only leaves 1 to connect to something else, eg H or another C.
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O=C-O-H
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propan-2-ol
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