Inorganic chemistry, apropyl group is a three-carbonalkylsubstituent withchemical formula−CH2CH2CH3 for the linear form. Thissubstituent form is obtained by removing one hydrogen atom attached to the terminal carbon ofpropane.[1] A propyl substituent is often represented in organic chemistry with the symbolPr (not to be confused with the elementpraseodymium).
Anisomeric form of propyl is obtained by moving the point of attachment from a terminal carbon atom to the central carbon atom, namedisopropyl or 1-methylethyl. To maintain four substituents on each carbon atom, one hydrogen atom has to be moved from the middle carbon atom to the carbon atom which served as attachment point in then-propyl variant, written as−CH(CH3)2.[2]
Linear propyl is sometimes termed normal and hence written with a prefixn- (i.e.,n-propyl), as the absence of the prefixn- does not indicate which attachment point is chosen, i.e. absence of prefix does not automatically exclude the possibility of it being the branched version (i.e.i-propyl[citation needed] orisopropyl).[1][failed verification]In addition, there is a third, cyclic, form calledcyclopropyl, orc-propyl[citation needed]. It is not isomeric with the other two forms, having a different chemical formula (−C3H5 vs−C3H7), not just a different connectivity of the atoms.
n-Propyl acetate is anester which has then-propyl group attached to the oxygen atom of theacetate group.
