I've been doing organic chemistry and I don't really understand how to draw some isomers. I know how to draw the easier isomers like Butan-1-ol and Butan-2-ol but I don't get how there can be other ones and how to draw them...please help
It's tough to draw diagrams on these boards. I'll just draw the skeleton and not fill in the H atoms. But you understand that each C has four bonds.
C
|
C
|
C
|
C-OH is butan-1-ol
C
|
C
|
C-OH
|
C is butan-2-ol
These two isomers are made by placing the OH in two different locations. But why can't we branch the C chain. It need not be a straight chain as in the two above. For example,
C
|
C-C
|
C-OH
C
|
C-OH
|
C
This site may help a little better than I can draw them.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butanol