In summary, the conversation discusses the naming of a compound using IUPAC rules. One expert provides a summary of the rules, stating that the end with the more substituted carbon should be selected first and that the sum of substituents is not necessary for aliphatic compounds. The other expert questions the validity of the 'lowest sum rule' and asks for another expert's input. The first expert admits to not spending much time on IUPAC rules and suggests using a chemical database for accurate naming. The conversation is then closed for moderation.
You select the end from which the more substituted carbon comes first. So which end is it?
Also, you don't need to do the sum for aliphatic compounds, that's only for cyclic compounds.
Strange rules. Would not be better if I took into consideration all substituents? In other words shouldn't I pay attention to the sum of all substituents?
Well, strange rules!
I don't spend much time on IUPAC (I've mentioned before on this forum that I think a lot of the conventions are illogical and unhelpful). That said, if I have to name a compound, I usually cheat by going to some chemical database that names the compounds automatically (PubChem, SciFinder, and Sigma are all pretty good). In this case, I used the PubChem structure search, which returned this little nugget: https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/23333527
