How do I learn to make isomers for a compound?

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    Isomers
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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around the challenges of learning to create isomers for organic compounds, specifically propanol and diethyl ketone. Participants explore methods for generating isomers, the complexity involved, and the potential for confusion when comparing their findings with existing resources.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory, Technical explanation, Debate/contested

Main Points Raised

  • One participant expresses confusion about generating isomers for compounds with double and triple bonds, noting that they often find fewer isomers than available online.
  • Another participant asserts that there is no easy method to guarantee a complete list of isomers, especially as the number of atoms increases.
  • A different viewpoint suggests that a recurrent algorithm could be designed to generate all possible isomers by systematically adding atoms to an incomplete molecule, although this method may produce duplicates and chemically impossible structures.
  • A request for further elaboration on the algorithmic approach is made, indicating interest in understanding the method better.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants do not reach a consensus on the ease of generating isomers, with differing opinions on the feasibility of algorithmic methods and the complexity of the task.

Contextual Notes

The discussion highlights limitations in the ability to generate a complete list of isomers, including potential repetitions and the generation of chemically impossible structures.

Who May Find This Useful

Individuals interested in organic chemistry, particularly those studying isomerism and molecular structure, may find this discussion relevant.

Anithadhruvbud
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I get so confused when it comes to making isomers for a compound like propanol,di ethyl ketone and those which has double and triple bonds.
It seems I can make an isomer by changing the position of double bonds too.
Isn't there any easy way to do it? Also When I come up with 4 isomers for a compound,internet already contains 8 of them and then I wonder why I didn't get the idea to arrange them into four more by changing the positions further more.It would look as if the 4 isomers I came up with are the only ones available until I get to refer the websites.
So is there any way to check whether the number of isomers I came up with are correct ones?
 
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Anithadhruvbud said:
Isn't there any easy way to do it?
Short answer? "No." Slightly longer answer? You are talking isomers; the number of configurations/conformations/congeners/xxxxxxxs expands rapidly; get beyond a dozen atoms and very few people are able to guarantee a complete list.
 
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Whether it counts as an easy method depends on what you call easy. It is not that difficult to design a recurrent algorithm that will generate all possible isomers of a compound with a given formula - choose one atom as a starting one. For the incomplete molecule for each bond sticking out try to add another atom from the formula till you run out of atoms.

While this is guaranteed to generate all possible isomers, there are two problems - one, many of the generated formulas will repeat, second, many of them are chemically impossible.
 
Borek said:
For the incomplete molecule for each bond sticking out try to add another atom from the formula till you run out of atoms.
Can you just elaborate more on this,please?
 

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