Alkanes are aliphatic compound.

An aliphatic compound is an organic compound

containing carbon and hydrogen joined in straight chains, branched chains, or
non-aromatic rings. It is one of two broad classes of hydrocarbons, the other being
aromatic compounds.
In Chemistry, nomenclature refers to the rules used to name compounds. The
International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) is the organization that
now develops the rule of chemical nomenclature. All scientific societies in the world
accept the rules known as the IUPAC rules. They are so carefully constructed that only
one name could either be written for each compound and only one structure could be
drawn for each name.

Naming all compounds follow the rules given by the IUPAC the same is true for naming
the alkane. The rules or nomenclature to name the alkanes are very simple but needs to
be practiced.

ALKANE NOMENCLATURE

1. Find the longest carbon chain. This will be the parent name.

2. The carbon atoms of the parent chain are numbered starting from whichever end of
the chain gives the location of the first branch/substituent the lower of two possible
numbers.

3. Name each branch attached to the parent chain.

4. Attach the name of the alkyl group to the name of the parent as a prefix. Place the
location number of the group in front of the resulting name and separate the number
from the name by a hyphen.

5. When two or more groups are attached to the parent, name and locate each with a
number. The names of the alkyl substituents are assembled alphabetically. Always
use hyphen to separate numbers from words.

6. When two or more substituents are identical, use prefixes di, tri, etc. and specify the
location number of every group. Always separate a number from another number in
a name by a comma.
Alkanes have different types of substituent groups. Note that substituent groups are
listed alphabetically in the name and the chain is numbered in the direction that
gives the lowest number to the first substituted atom.

7. When identical groups are on the same carbon, repeat the number locating this
carbon in the name.