Understanding Methanal: The Simplest Aldehyde and Its Nomenclature Explained

Aldehyde Nomenclature: Methanal

Propionaldehyde

Aldehydes are organic compounds containing a carbonyl group (C=O) attached to a hydrogen atom (-H) and an alkyl group (-R).

Methanal is the simplest aldehyde consisting of only two atoms- carbon and hydrogen. It is also known as formaldehyde and has the chemical formula CH2O.

In aldehyde nomenclature, the suffix -al is added to the root name of the parent alkane. Since methanal contains only one carbon atom, its parent alkane is methane. Therefore, the name of methanal after nomenclature is Methanal which means it is named according to the IUPAC system.

Thus, Methanal is the systematic name for this molecule according to IUPAC nomenclature. However, it is also commonly referred to as formaldehyde, which comes from its previous use in preserving biological specimens.

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