Thursday, April 19, 2012 at 10:37AM
Drew Wolfe

Norbornane

"Norbornane (also known as bicyclo[2.2.1]heptane) is an organic compound and a saturated hydrocarbon with chemical formula C7H12. It is a crystallinecompound with melting point 88 °C. The carbon skeleton is a cyclohexane ring bridged by a methylene group in the 1,4- position, and is a bridged bicycliccompound. The compound can be synthesized by hydrogenation of the related compounds norbornene and norbornadiene. The norbornyl cation (C7H11+) is of great scientific interest in relation to non-classical ions."

"The compound got its name from bornane which has three methyl groups and is the carbon skeleton for camphor (bornanone). In bornane, there is one methyl group attached to a carbon at the base of the bridge and two methyl groups attached to the carbon at the apex of the bridge. The prefix nor refers to the stripping of the methyl groups from the original bornane."

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