[kensher]

Hi.

I'm having a task that I struggle with in my chemistry book. The task is naming the alchohol.
I get presented with this following structural formula (see attachment).

The right answer is: 2-ethylbutane-1-ol (I thought it would be 3-methylpentane-3-ol).
The reason the book gives (which makes no sense to me): "The C-atom, which the OH-group is bonded to, should be considered a part of longest coherent carbon chain".

Can somebody please explain this?

Thanks in advance.

[AWK]

Your name is wrong,
https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Hexanol

[Arkcon]

The reason the book gives (which makes no sense to me): "The C-atom, which the OH-group is bonded to, should be considered a part of longest coherent carbon chain"

Read it carefully. The C-atom, with the OH is the longest one.  That, in at least this case, forces the name to be -1-ol, not -3-ol.  Can you redraw this picture to highlight that?  Remember, right angle bends in a aliphatic chain are tofit it on the page, they don't mean anything when naming the molecule.

[Dan]

The right answer is: 2-ethylbutane-1-ol (I thought it would be 3-methylpentane-3-ol).

3-methylpentan-3-ol is this:

[kensher]

The reason the book gives (which makes no sense to me): "The C-atom, which the OH-group is bonded to, should be considered a part of longest coherent carbon chain"

Read it carefully. The C-atom, with the OH is the longest one.  That, in at least this case, forces the name to be -1-ol, not -3-ol.  Can you redraw this picture to highlight that?  Remember, right angle bends in a aliphatic chain are tofit it on the page, they don't mean anything when naming the molecule.

Thank you!
Your answer explained it. The short chain becomes the «long» chain because it has OH-attached to it. Thanks.

[AWK]

http://chemwiki.ucdavis.edu/Core/Organic_Chemistry/Alcohols/Nomenclature_of_Alcohols/Naming_Alcohols