Alkanes · Beginner

Draw 2-methylbutane

Draw the skeletal structure of 2-methylbutane, 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

An alkane name has three parts: prefixes for the substituents, each with a locant; a stem that counts the carbons of the parent chain (meth- 1, eth- 2, prop- 3, but- 4, pent- 5, hex- 6, hept- 7, oct- 8); and the ending -ane, which says that every carbon–carbon bond is single.

The locants are the numbers of the carbons of the parent chain, which is the longest chain and is numbered from the end that gives the substituents the lowest locants. Each substituent is an alkyl group named after its own number of carbons (methyl, ethyl, propyl) and sits on the carbon its locant gives.

To draw the name, draw the parent chain first as a zigzag with one corner or line end per carbon, number it from one end, then add each substituent at its locant. Finally check that no branch makes a chain longer than the parent.

Learn the naming rules

The guide Alkanes and cycloalkanes 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: Alkanes and cycloalkanes.

More exercises: Alkanes and cycloalkanes

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.