Common alkyl substituents

Common
names for alkyl substituents

Certain
alkyl substituents are very common, and you should be able to recognise and
name them quickly, these are listed below.
In each case, the structural formula of the substituent is given where the C
that is attached to the rest of the molecule is in bold. A line drawing of a generic example and
the molecular models of the series of alkyl bromides are also available.

Notes:

• the the prefix iso is
  not hyphenated.
• the symbol “

  R

  ” is commonly used to generically represent
  an alkyl group, e.g. R-X

• the prefixes sec- or s- and tert- or t- are commonly used to indicate specific types of branched substituents.
• The less common prefix n- (or neo-) is occasionally used for a straight chain (e.g. n-hexane CH3CH2CH2CH2CH2CH3)

Structural
formula

Name

Symbol
Generic
line drawing

C

H3-

methyl

Me

CH3

C

H2-
ethyl

Et

CH3CH2

C

H2-
propyl

Pr

(CH3)2

C

H-
isopropyl

iPr

CH3CH2CH2

C

H2-
butyl

CH3

C

HCH2CH3
sec-butyl
or s-butyl

(CH3)2CH

C

H2-
isobutyl

(CH3)3C-
tert-butyl
or t-butyl

tBu

Use the buttons on the right
to see the various alkyl groups in the corresponding alkyl bromides,
R-Br.