Naming Functional Groups
Key Questions
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The alcohol forms the first part of the name, and the acid forms the second part.
For example, CH₃COOH + CH₃CH₂OH → CH₃COOCH₂CH₃
The name consists of two words.
The first word is the name of the alkyl group in the alcohol.
If the alcohol is CH₃CH₂OH, the first word is "ethyl".
The second word is the name of the acid minus "-ic acid" plus "-ate".
If the acid is CH₃COOH (ethanoic acid), the second word in the name is "ethanoate".
The complete name of the ester is then "ethyl ethanoate".
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A functional group is like a family. It is a predictor of sorts. Just like looking at fruit, you know what an apple is going to taste like by looking at it. In chemistry you can see a certain grouping of atoms together and you would be able to predict its reactivity.
For example, with C=C, this is an alkene and I already can tell that it will react with HBr