Acids & derivatives · Advanced

Draw butanedioic acid

Draw the skeletal structure of butanedioic acid, then check it. The checker compares the molecule you drew with the answer, so a correct structure is accepted however you draw it.

Draw it in the editor

How this exercise works

Open the exercise in the editor and draw the structure: drag from dot to dot to draw bonds, and tap a bond or an atom to change it.
Press Check answer. Equivalent drawings are accepted, and a mistake such as a missing carbon or a misplaced group is explained.
Stuck? Hints reveal the structure step by step, and the worked answer explains the name.

This exercise has 3 hints and a worked answer.

How to read a name like this

The ending -oic acid means a carboxylic acid, COOH, whose carbon is C1 of the chain and counts in the stem. An ester name has two words, the group on the single-bonded oxygen and the acid part ending in -oate; -amide replaces -oic acid for a CONH₂ group and -oyl chloride for a COCl group.

N- in front of a group in an amide name puts that group on the nitrogen. -Carboxylic acid is used when the COOH group is attached to a ring; its carbon is then not counted in the ring.

Each of these groups contains a C=O. Draw it on the carbon of the group (C1 of a chain), then add the O, N or Cl that the group carries.

Learn the naming rules

The guide Carboxylic acids and derivatives explains the names in this topic, with worked examples.

All the exercises of this family, with a short summary of its naming rules: Nomenclature practice: Carboxylic acids and derivatives.

More exercises: Carboxylic acids and derivatives

Practice the whole topic Name the structures of this topic

Have a structure of your own?

Draw it on the free drawing page and see its name, formula and functional groups as you draw.