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Alpha Carbon

  • Page ID
    32205
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    An alpha (symbol: α) carbon is a carbon atom bonded to a functional group in an organic compound; the carbon atom next to the α carbon is the beta (symbol: β) carbon, and so on (α, β, γ, δ…).

    eg:

    alphacarbon1.png

    A compound containing only one functional group may have more than one α carbon.

    eg:

    alphacarbon2.png

    If a compound contains more than one functional group, the terms α-carbon, β-carbon, etc. are meaningful only if the functional group is specified.

    eg:

    alphacarbon3.png


    This page titled Alpha Carbon is shared under a All Rights Reserved (used with permission) license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Gamini Gunawardena via source content that was edited to the style and standards of the LibreTexts platform; a detailed edit history is available upon request.

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