Understanding Carboxylic Acids, Esters, and Amines

Carboxylic Acids

They are characterized by the group "carboxyl" -COOH at the end of the chain.

They are named by prefixing the word "acid" to the name of the hydrocarbon from which they come, with the ending "-oic". Numerous dicarboxylic acids are named with the ending "-dioic". It is often still used the traditional name, accepted by the IUPAC; many of them are illustrated in the examples below.

When the carboxylic groups are in side chains, they are named using the prefix "carboxyl" and a pager number for that function. In cases where many other acidic groups may also be present, the compound may be referred to as "tricarboxylic", "tetracarboxylic", etc., based on the hydrocarbon from which they come. Place the locators from the carboxyl carbon. After the word "acid", the hydrocarbon type name ends in "-oic".

Esters

Esters are compounds formed by substituting the H of an organic acid with a hydrocarbon chain, R'. They are named by taking the acid radical, RCOO, ending in "-ate", followed by the name of the alkyl radical, R'. If the ester group is not the primary group, the name depends on whether R or R' is the main group. If R is the main group, the COOR' substituent is named as alkoxycarbonyl or ariloxicarbonyl. If R' is the main group, the substituent is named as acyloxy RCOO.

Number the carbons in the acid radical and the radical that replaces the H of the acid. Name the radical ending in "-ate" followed by "of" and the name of the alkyl radical.

Amines

Amines can be considered compounds derived from ammonia (NH₃) where one, two, or three of its hydrogens are replaced by alkyl or aromatic radicals. Depending on the number of hydrogens replaced, substituted amines are called primary, secondary, or tertiary.

They are named by adding the name of the hydrocarbon radical with the suffix "-amine". In secondary and tertiary amines, if a radical is repeated, the prefixes "di-" or "tri-" are used. However, frequently, to avoid confusion, we choose the more significant radical, and others are named by prepending an N to indicate that they are attached to the nitrogen atom.

When primary amines are not part of the main chain, they are named as substituents of the carbon chain with a corresponding pager number and the prefix "amino-". When multiple N atoms are part of the main chain, they are named with the word "aza". The N atoms that are not part of the main chain are named as amino-, aminomethyl, methylamino-, etc.

Name the most important radical attached to nitrogen in amine termination. Before naming the other radicals attached to nitrogen, precede them with the letter N.

Nitro Compounds

Nitro compounds can be considered derivatives of hydrocarbons in which one or more hydrogens are replaced by the "nitro" group, -NO₂. They are named as substituents of the hydrocarbon from which they derive, using the prefix "nitro-" and a pager number to indicate their position in the carbon chain. The unsaturation takes precedence over the nitro group.