Butanol

Butanol is an organic compound. It is the alcohol form of butane, and has the chemical formula . There are four structural isomers of butanol. Normally, the name "butanol" on its own means 1-butanol, the straight chain primary alcohol. The other isomers are 2-butanol, isobutanol, and tert-butyl alcohol.

 Isomers 
Butanol is the smallest alcohol to have skeletal isomers (as butane is the smallest alkane with them). Each skeletal isomer has two positional isomers depending on the place the hydroxy group is attached to the skeleton. The 2-butanol isomer is the smallest alcohol to have stereoisomerism. This makes butanol more complicated than smaller alcohols:

 Formula Alcohol(s) Functional isomers(not alcohols) Skeletal isomer Positional isomer StereoisomersMethanolNoneEthanolDimethyl etherNonePropanolEthyl methyl etherNone1-PropanolNoneIsopropanolNoneButanolDiethyl ether,methyl propyl ether,isopropyl methyl etherButane1-Butanol  None2-Butanol  R and SIsobutaneIsobutanol  Nonetert-Butyl alcohol  None

Category:Alcohols
Category:Butyl compounds