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Butanol - Isomers.

There are different isomers of the alcohols propanol, butanol and pentanol.
The four isomers of butanol are shown below.

Butanol (C4H9OH) is commonly represented by the molecule butan-1-ol,
a primary alcohol, which has the structural formula

Butan-1-ol Isomer of Butanol

 

Other isomers of butanol can be drawn by changing the way that the
OH group is joined to the molecule  or by changing the way that
the carbon atoms are joined to each other (see isomers of butane).

The other isomers of butanol are butan-2-ol, a secondary alcohol,
represented by the structural formula
Butan-2-ol Isomer of Butanol


2-methylpropan-1-ol
, a primary alcohol,
represented by the structural formula
2-methylpropan-1-ol Isomer of Butanol


and
2-methylpropan-2-ol, a tertiary alcohol,
represented by the structural formula
2-methylpropan-2-ol Isomer of Butanol

The single lines between the atoms represent single covalent bonds.

Note that each carbon atom has four bonds (valency 4),
each oxygen atom has two bonds (valency 2)
and each hydrogen atom has one bond (valency 1).
Valency is the combining power of an atom.

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