CLASSIFICATION AND NOMENCLATURE OF ORGANIC COMPOUNDS

Modern classification of organic compounds is based on the nature of:

• the carbon chain
• the functional group

Classification based on the nature of a carbon chain

Depending upon the structure of a carbon chain
organic compounds are divided into two groups:
acyclic and cyclic.

Organic Compounds

Acyclic (aliphatic) Cyclic

compounds compounds

Carbocyclic Heterocyclic
compounds compounds

Alicyclic Aromatic
compounds compounds 1
Acyclic or aliphatic compounds are open chain organic compounds.
They are subdivided according to their state of saturation:
saturated compounds – containing only single bonded carbon atoms,
unsaturated compounds – containing one or more carbon-carbon double or triple
bonds:

Cyclic compounds – are organic compounds, containing cycles (Greek; cyclos means
a circle).
Depending on the nature of the atoms in the ring, these compounds are further classified
as: carbocyclic and heterocyclic.
The ring of carbocyclic compounds is formed only by carbon atoms.
Heterocyclic compounds contain one or more heteroatoms (atom other than C, it may
be O, N, S, etc.) in their ring.
Carbocyclic compounds are further divided into alicyclic and aromatic compounds.

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Compounds, containing only carbon (C) and hydrogen (H) atoms, are called
hydrocarbons.
Substitution of one or more hydrogen atoms by the functional groups leads to other
classes of organic compounds.

Classification based on the nature of the functional group

Functional group – is a structural fragment within molecules that characterizes

the properties of a given class.

For example, the properties of the carboxylic acids are characterized by the presence of
the carboxylic group -COOH:

of the aldehydes – by the aldehyde group –C(O)H;

in alcohols – by the hydroxyl group –OH.

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 Nomenclature of Organic Compounds
Chemical nomenclature – is the set of the names of individual chemical compounds,
their groups and classes, and the naming rules.

Several nomenclature systems are used to name organic compounds, they are:
• common;
• rational;
• international (IUPAC – eye-u-pak).

Common nomenclature. Malic, citric, formic acids; wood alcohol etc. are examples
of common or trivial names.

Rational nomenclature. The compounds are considered as derivatives of the simplest

member of the class of organic compounds: for alkanes – methane, for alkenes –
ethylene, for alkynes – acetylene and so on, for example:

International nomenclature.
These rules are known as IUPAC (Congress of the International Union of Pure and
Applied Chemistry ) nomenclature.
IUPAC nomenclature rules provide several variants of naming of organic compounds.
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The most used are substitutive and radicofunctional nomenclature.
Substitutive nomenclature. According to the substitutive nomenclature organic
compounds are considered as derivatives of hydrocarbons, in which one or some
hydrogen atoms are substituted by any other atoms or atomic groups.

Consider main rules of name formation according to this nomenclature and let’s
define the basic concepts, such as:
- a parent structure;
- a substituent;
- a radical (an alkyl group).
Parent structure is the structural fragment of the molecule, which lies in the basis
of the name of a compound.
It may be: the main hydrocarbon chain for acyclic compounds,
the cycle – for carbo- and heterocycles.
Substituent is an atom or an
atomic group that are not involved in
the parent structure. The concept “a
substituent” includes a functional
group and a radical.

Radical (alkyl group) is the rest

of a hydrocarbon formed by the
removing of one or some hydrogen
atoms. 5
How to name a compound?
1. Find out the parent structure and the substituents.
2. Select the major functional group (according to the table of majority) among all
substituents.

- The numbering starts from the major functional group.

- The positions of substituents or multiple bonds in molecule are designated by the
digits or letters (locants).
- Same substituents or multiple bonds are indicated by the multiplier prefixes:
di- (two), tri- (three), tetra- (four), penta- (five) etc.

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 Some functional groups, arranged in order to decrease their majority

If a compound
contains only one of
such groups it is
considered as a
major one;

if there are two or

more of groups, the
major is that one
which is situated
higher inside
the table of majority.

The major
functional group is
designated in a
suffix, while all
others – in a prefix.
In accordance with IUPAC rules some functional groups are not considered by their priority and are always designated in
a prefix alphabetically: 7
-Br (bromo-), -Cl (chloro-), -F (fluoro-), -I (iodo-), -NO (nitroso-), -NO2 (nitro-) etc.
General scheme of name making for compounds:

a) of aliphatic series

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General scheme of name making for compounds:

b) of aromatic series

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 Radicofunctional nomenclature.
The name of functional class (alcohol, ether, ketone, etc.) to which given compound
belongs, lies in the basis of its name;
before the name of the class, names of hydrocarbon radicals are cited:

If there are some functional groups, like it was in a case of substitutive nomenclature,
the major one defines the class, which will be the root of the name; others are
designated in a prefix. For the designation of the positions of substituents Greek letters
 etc. are used.
The nearest carbon atom toward the functional group is indicated by the letter :

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