Short Notations for Organic Cations

by Axel Drefahl • www.axeleratio.com

Short formula-like notations for organic cations support efficient search of information about cations and their salts. Herein, we demonstrate how to derive such notations for frequently occurring cations from cation class notations by using alkyl group symbols. Such notations can be used in the Chemical Property Viewer to search for information on Ionic Liquids and Solids.
Notations for alkyl-substituted cations are derived by replacing all symbols R in a cation class notation by specific alkyl group symbols as illustrated in the following examples.
Specific Notation Class Notation Name of specific cation
EtNH3 RNH3 ethylammonium
Pr3NBz R3NBz benzyl-tri-n-propylammonium
Bu4P R4P tetrabutylphosphonium
4BuMO 4RMO 4-butylmorpholinium
1Me1MePL 1R1RPL 1,1-dimethylpyrrolidinium

Hint
A similar page for anions is avaiable :
Short Notations for Organic Anions

If multiple alkyl group symbols are replaced by symbols for different specific alkyl groups, then the specific symbols are ordered alphabetically.
Specific Notation Class Notation Name of specific cation
Bu3HxN R4N (1-hexyl)tributylammonium
1Bu3MeIM 1R3RIM 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium
However, if R substituents at non-equivalent sites are replaced, the specific symbols are placed at the targeted substitution sites and alphabetical ordering is only applied within equivalent sites.
Specific Notation Class Notation Name of specific cation Note
1Me3EtPY 1R3RPY 1-methyl-3-ethylpyridinium N-atom at site 1, C-atom at site 3
1Bu2Me3EtIM 1R2R3RIM 1-butyl-2-methyl-3-ethylimidazolium C-atom at site 2, whereas N-atoms at sites 1 and 3
Last update was made on October 24 in 2008 by Axel Drefahl
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