What are skeletal formulas or skeletal structures (of organic compounds) ?

1 Answer
anor277
May 9, 2018

These are formulaic representations that DO NOT illustrate hydrogen....

Explanation:

We know say that "n-butane" is C_4H_12..we could write it long hand...H_3C-CH_2CH_2CH_3...alternatively, we could write it as...

...alternatively, we could write it as...

![jsmbchemistry.blogspot.co.uk)

The second representation is the skeletal formula....the zig-zag represents a methylene unit, i.e. CH_2CH_2...and of course with more complicated structures we could insert heteroatoms, and carbocycles, and heterocycles appropriately.

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