Organic Functional Group Priority
Carboxylic Acid Eats All Ants And Kids At (the) Aquarium
For IUPAC nomenclature when multiple functional groups are present: Carboxylic acid > Ester > Amide > Aldehyde > Ketone > Alcohol > Amine > Alkene > Alkyne.
Breakdown
Carboxylic Acid
Highest priority, suffix: -oic acid
Ester
Suffix: -oate
Amide
Suffix: -amide
Aldehyde
Suffix: -al
Ketone
Suffix: -one
Alcohol
Suffix: -ol
Amine
Suffix: -amine
Example
HOCH2CH2COOH has both alcohol and carboxylic acid. Carboxylic acid is priority, so it's 3-hydroxypropanoic acid (alcohol becomes hydroxy- prefix).
When to Use This
- ✓Naming organic compounds with multiple functional groups
- ✓Determining parent chain suffix
- ✓Deciding which group becomes a prefix
- ✓IUPAC nomenclature questions
FAQs
Common questions about this mnemonic
Alkenes (-ene) and alkynes (-yne) are low priority. They appear in the parent chain name but most functional groups take precedence for the suffix.
Give the lowest possible locants to the set of principal groups. Follow standard IUPAC rules for numbering from the end that gives lowest numbers overall.