Talk:methylpropanol

RFD discussion: Dec 2018

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methylpropanol

Not used in organic chemistry. The correct term is either 2-methyl-1-propanol (isobutanol) or 2-methyl-2-propanol (tert-Butyl alcohol). Note that methylpropane (isobutane) is symmetrical but hydroxylation may occur at either the 1st or 2nd positions of the propyl chain, giving two possible derivatives. Ping also @SemperBlotto for additional comments. KevinUp (talk) 15:02, 30 December 2018 (UTC)

It seems the word can be found alone in Google Books, but only rarely. Two examples: 1. "TCI-01 is an aromatic oligomeric resin suspended in a blend of butanol, butanone, ethanol, and methylpropanol"; 2. "dioxepins resulting from nucleophilic attack at C9 by the analogous methylpropanol side chain have been isolated". Equinox ◑ 15:04, 30 December 2018 (UTC)

Well, we could create entries for all chemical compounds that are cited in literature such as the following compounds that are listed in Patent US20170145450A1, but I would advise against it. This newly created entry is based on the assumption that methylpropane = alternative form of isobutane and hence methylpropanol = alternative form of isobutanol which is untrue. KevinUp (talk) 15:21, 30 December 2018 (UTC)

Suitable alkanes include, but are not limited to, butane, pentane, pentene, 2-methylbutane, hexane, hexene, 2-methylpentane, 3-methylpentane, 2,2,-dimethylbutane, 2,3-dimethylbutane, heptane, heptene, octane, octene, 2,2,4-trimethylpentane, 2,3-dimethyl hexane, 2,3,4-trimethylpentane, 2,3-dimethylpentane, nonane, nonene, decane, decene, undecane, undecene, dodecane, dodecene, tridecane, tridecene, tetradecane, tetradecene, pentadecane, pentadecene, nonyldecane, nonyldecene, eicosane, eicosene, uneicosane, uneicosene, doeicosane, doeicosene, trieicosane, trieicosene, tetraeicosane, tetraeicosene, and isomers thereof. Some of these products may be suitable for use as fuels

If some nonstandard name meets our CFI, we should include it but note that it is nonstandard, preferably pointing out the why and how.  --Lambiam 15:33, 30 December 2018 (UTC)

Just curiosity: does anyone know the rationale for capitalizing the “B” in “tert-Butyl” (and likewise for “tert-Pentyl”)?  --Lambiam 15:33, 30 December 2018 (UTC)

That's just an error - Wikipedia makes such errors all the time. SemperBlotto (talk) 15:35, 30 December 2018 (UTC)

It is also systematically written that way in the IUPAC nomenclature recommendations: [1], [2], [3], [4].  --Lambiam 16:56, 30 December 2018 (UTC)

keep - a reasonable entry - the IUPAC name is "2-methylpropan-1-ol". SemperBlotto (talk) 15:35, 30 December 2018 (UTC)

Alternatively, the definition of this entry could be altered as: "A propanol molecule with a methyl side chain", which is the correct definition, but that would clearly be a sum of parts, hence I propose for this entry to be deleted, unless we would like to see entries such as methylbutanol, methylpentanol, methylhexanol, etc. created in the future. KevinUp (talk) 15:47, 30 December 2018 (UTC)

Additional comment: If this entry passes {{rfd}}, I would proceed to {{rfv}} its definition, because it could refer to either "2-methylpropan-1-ol" or "2-methylpropan-2-ol". If it cannot be proved that this term refers specifically to isobutanol, then this entry is clearly a sum of parts entry. KevinUp (talk) 15:47, 30 December 2018 (UTC)

It is not sum of parts (WT:SOP) since it does not consist of separate components; see also Talk:Zirkusschule. --Dan Polansky (talk) 16:04, 30 December 2018 (UTC)

Feel free to send it to RfV, but it is trivially easy to find multiple usages. SemperBlotto (talk) 15:55, 30 December 2018 (UTC)

Keep. The position numbers in chemical names are often omitted. Which leads us however to the question what do with longer chemicals when position numbers are variously given and omitted. Perhaps keep only the full and the empty ones? This is related to the issue of not every possible number includable. Fay Freak (talk) 16:02, 30 December 2018 (UTC)

We decided, some years ago, that this wiki was to contain "all words in all languages". The number of organic compounds is almost infinite, so we (at least I) only add them as we come across them in the literature. We don't normally add full IUPAC entries (with numbers and brackets) but that has not been decided by the community as far as I can remember. SemperBlotto (talk) 16:12, 30 December 2018 (UTC)

Rfv-kept. The entry looks much proper now. Fortunately for us, methylpropanol is a simple molecule with only two possible isomeric arrangements based on its name. In future, will creation of entries for longer molecules such as pentyldecane, pentyldecene, hexyldecane, hexyldecene, nonyldecane, nonyldecene (which are citeable) be welcomed here on Wiktionary? I wouldn't encourage such entries, unless it's something like nonylphenol, which has various uses in industry. KevinUp (talk) 16:14, 30 December 2018 (UTC)