Students’ Difficulties in IUPAC Naming of Organic Compounds

Abstract

This paper reports on a study that diagnosed the difficulties of chemistry students in using IUPAC nomenclature to name organic compounds. This was done by determining the knowledge level of students in IUPAC nomenclature of organic compounds. Students at the senior high school (SHS) level were involved in the study. A cross-sectional survey that employs mixed method approached provided the study with both quantitative and qualitative data. In all, 245 SHS4 chemistry students selected from four out of 18 schools who offered elective science for 2010/2011 academic year in the Kumasi Metropolis were involved in the study. An achievement test and interview were the main instruments for the data collection. The results from the study showed that students had difficulties in naming structural formulae of branched- and substituted-chains of alkanes and alkenes, geometrical isomers, dienes, unbranched alkynes, primary and tertiary alkanols, diols, alkanoic acids, and alkyl alkanoates. Chemistry students’ difficulties in IUPAC naming of organic compounds included their inability to identify the correct number of carbon atoms in the parent chain, and to identify a substituent or functional group.