Esters are mostly used in plastics and as food flavourings. Do you like orange, or apple, or pear? Here are some structures and the wonderful flavours they produce.
Because they have no free 'OH' groups, they have a tendancy to be insoluable in water. They are known as acid derivatives. Often they have a pleasant and fruity odour.
So what do they look like?
| Like always, the 'R' represents a Carbon chain. R' means that there is another Carbon chain but is not necessarily the same as the other. All esters have a double bonded oxygen as well as another oxygen(single bonded).
Esters are side groups(substituents), so when you name them, the single bonded oxygen is the start of your side chain. The double bonded Oxygen already has a full shell so it is unlikely to react/have other bonds.
Rules for naming:
1) Name the main chain. Take off the 'e' and add 'oate' to the end.
2) The side group starts after the oxygen. Count the number of Carbons in the chain attatched to it.
3) Name this group as an alkyl.
Let's practise:
First we identify the main chain, which is propane. Then we take off the 'e' and add the suffix 'oate'. Thus: propanoate. Now we need to name the side chain. It's methyl, so its final name is methylpropanoate.
Here's a cool little video about a queen and king to help you remember esters:
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