Naming Organic Compounds (Edexcel IGCSE Chemistry)

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

Isomers can be distinguished by following the naming rules