Nomenclature of Alcohols

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Alcohols are one of the most important functional groups in organic chemistry. Alcohols are a good source of reagents for synthesis reactions. The ability to identify alcohols is important especially when looking at IR and NMR spectra. The alcohol signal is very easy to spot on IR graphs, because they have a strong signal near the 3200 cm^-1 region.

Introduction

The following is list of some common primary alcohols based on the IUPAC naming system.

Name	Molecular Formula
Methanol (methyl alcohol)	CH₃OH
Ethanol (ethyl alcohol)	C₂H₅OH
Propanol	C₃H₇OH
Butanol	C₄H₉OH
Pentanol	C₅H₁₁OH
Hexanol	C₆H₁₃OH
Heptanol	C₇H₁₅OH
Octanol	C₈H₁₇OH

Rules for naming the alcohols

Find the longest chain containing the hydroxy group (OH). If there is a chain with more carbons than the one containing the OH group it will be named as a subsitutent.
Place the OH on the lowest possible number for the chain. With the exception of carbonyl groups such as ketones and aldehydes, the alcohol or hydroxy groups have first priority for naming.
When naming a cyclic structure, the -OH is assumed to be on the first carbon unless the carbonyl group is present, in which case the later will get priority at the first carbon.
When multiple -OH groups are on the cyclic structure, number the carbons on which the -OH groups reside.
Remove the final e from the parent alkane chain and add -ol. When multiple alcohols are present use di, tri, et.c before the ol, after the parent name. ex. 2,3-hexandiol. If a carbonyl group is present, the -OH group is named with the prefix "hydroxy," with the carbonyl group attached to the parent chain name so that it ends with -al or -one.