Nitriles, RCN

1. Compounds with the ≡N≡N function are named by adding the suffix nitrile to the main-chain hydrocarbon that includes the carbon linked to the nitrile (≡N) function. The chain is numbered so the CN carbon is C1:

2. Compounds of the type RCN have to be called carbonitriles when R is a cycloalkane or similar group:

3. Nitriles can be regarded as derivatives of carboxylic acids because the acid, RCO2HRCO2H, usually can be obtained from the nitrile, RCNRCN:

A common system of naming nitriles takes the name of the corresponding carboxylic acid and changes the suffix -oic to -onitrile:

4. The substituent name for −CN is cyano. For example,