Provide the systematic name for the following ester. To do that, we're going to utilize the following steps:
- We have to identify the alkyl group connected to the oxygen atom, and we're going to name the alkyl group as a substituent. Now, when it comes to this alkyl group connected to our oxygen, no numerical location for the alkyl group is needed. So if we take a look here, I've highlighted the portion that's the alkyl group. So here it's a 2-carbon alkyl group, which is ethyl.
- We identify the carbonyl chain connected to the carbonyl group. The carbonyl group is highlighted in yellow here.
- Figure out the length of the carbon chain starting from the carbonyl group. Here I've already numbered it for us, so we start here, 1, 2, 3, 4. The carbonyl group is Carbon number, as Carbon number 1 is implied.
- Now, here we have to assign numbers for the location of each substituent on the carbon chain with the carbonyl group. Here we have, as our substituent, this methyl group down here. When there is more than one identical substituent, we use the prefixes of 'di' for 2, 'tri' for 3, and 'tetra' for 4. So here, we have a methyl group. And remember, this is our original one, the alkyl group which is ethyl.
- We name all substituents in alphabetical order, prefixes do not count. And here, we're going to use commas to separate numbers from numbers, and we're going to use dashes to separate letters from numbers. We do not separate letters from letters, and this is important.
- Here, an additional step we have to take into mind is where we write the alkyl group name with spaces.
So, let's put all this together. Since 'e' comes before 'm', it's going to be ethyl. Remember this, we write it with spaces. Then we're going to have what? On carbon number 3 of the carbon chain, we're going to have a methyl so 3-methyl. And then here it's a 4-carbon chain, which is butane, and as a carboxylic acid, it would have been butanoic acid. But remember, we're changing this to 'ate'. So it becomes butanoate. Therefore, it would be ethyl 3-methyl butanoate, and that would be the name of this particular ester.
