................CH3

Question

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CH3-CH2-N-CH2-CH2-CH3

Hoping this turns out okay, but it's an amine and branching off of the N (on top) is a CH3.
The name is N-ethyl-N-methylpropanamine but I don't get why.

How do you know which ones to treat as branches? I mean the CH3-CH2- to the left of the N is treated as a branch, so: "N-ethyl" and then the CH3 branching off on top of the N is N-methyl, but then how come the C's to the right is propanamine? How do you know that one is the root, and it's not N-propyl and then like ethanamine or something?

Answer 1

Also, if there's branches coming off of it, what do you do?
For example, if the left part had a branch:
CH3
...|
CH3-CH2-N

Or would that just be extending the branch? And it would make the "N-ethyl" into "N-propyl"?

Answer 2

Sorry, I keep thinking of more stuff... Complications always magically arise right before an evaluation and never while I can actually ask my teacher :(

Can there be more than three in a branch? So far we've only done ones with methyl, ethyl, and propyl, but is there a "butyl"? And then would the next be "pentyl"..?

Answer 3

prioritize the longest chain as the parent/root. so the chain on the right has 3 carbons (propane). the other two are shortest and so they are branches.

Answer 4

yes there are butyl, pentyl and so on. these are called alkyl groups or side chains. they only be side chains if they are attached to the longer carbon skeleton.