Asked by a Canadian

I'm having a lot of trouble with Naming organic compounds when given things like HCOOCH2CH2CH3.

Can you recommend some steps?
How do you identify the branches??
And would the example I have above be a carboxylic acid?
My teacher said that it might help to just draw it out but that's seriously unrealistic when writing an exam - I won't have time for that!
Answered by a Canadian
No, sorry, it'd be an ester right?
Answered by a Canadian
And how would you know if there's double bonds?
Answered by DrBob222
Yes, it's a carboxylic acid. It is more recognizable if you write it as
CH3CH2CH2COOH. I would name that n-butanoic acid. When I took organic I memorized the TYPES of compounds. R stands for whatever you wish.
RCOOH is a carboxylic acid
ROR' ether
RCOOR' ester
RNH2. primary amine
R2NH secondary amine
R3N tertiary amine
RCH2OH primary alcohol
R2CHOH secondary alcohol
R3COH tertiary alcohol.
etc.
You don't know they are double bonds unless you draw them out BUT O ALWAYS has two bonds; if you write it out you will see -COOH must have one O double bonded to C and the other O single bond to C and single bond to H. Of course you know this is a resonance structure.
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