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Nomenclature of Amides

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    5888
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    Primary amides

    Primary amides are named by changing the name of the acid by dropping the -oic acid or -ic acid endings and adding -amide. The carbonyl carbon is given the #1 location number. It is not necessary to include the location number in the name because it is assumed that the functional group will be on the end of the parent chain.

    amidenomenclature1.gif amidenomenclature2.gif amidenomenclature3.gif

    methanamide or formamide (left), ethanamide or acetamide (center) , benzamide (right)

    Amide1.jpg

    Exercise

    Draw a structure for the following compound: 3-chlorobenzamide.

    Solution

    amidenomenclature4.gif

    Exercise

    Try to name the following compound:

    amidenomenclature5.gif

    Solution

    pentamide

    Secondary Amides

    Secondary amides are named by using an upper case N to designate that the alkyl group is on the nitrogen atom. Alkyl groups attached to the nitrogen are named as substituents. The letter N is used to indicate they are attached to the nitrogen.

    amidenomenclature6.gif

    N-methylpropanamide

    Exercise

    Try to draw a structure for the following compound: N,N-dimethylformamide.

    Solution

    amidenomenclature8.gif

    Exercise

    Try to name the following compound:

    amidenomenclature7.gif

    Solution

    N-phenylethanamide or N-phenylacetamide

    Tertiary Amides

    Tertiary amides are named in the same way as secondary amides, but with two N's

    Amide2.jpg

    Exercise

    Try to draw a structure for N,N-dimethylformamide.

    Solution

    amidenomenclature8.gif

    Contributors


    Nomenclature of Amides is shared under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by LibreTexts.

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