# STEPS OF NAMING ALKANES

Step 1 Find the parent hydrocarbon

~Find the longest continuous carbon chain present in the molecule and use the name of that chain as the parent name. The longest chain may not always be obvious from how the structure is written.

Step 2 Number the atoms in the main chain*

~Beginning at the end nearer the first branch , number each carbon atom in the longest chain.

~If there is branching an equal distance from both ends of the longest chain, number from the end nearer the second branch.

Step 3 Identify and number the substituents

~ Using the numbering arrived at in step 2, assign a number to each substituent according to its point of attachment to the main chain

~ If there are two substituents on the same carbon, assign them both the same number. There must always be as many numbers in the name as there are substituents:

Step 4 Write out the name as a single word, using hyphens to separate the different prefixes and using commas to separate numbers. If two or more different substituents are present,cite them in alphabetical order.

~If two or moreidentical substituents are present, use one of the prefixes : di -, tri -, tetra -, and so forth.

~Don't use these prefixes for deriving the alphabetical order ..

Note by Nicole Ling
5 years, 5 months ago

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