The nitroanisidines form a group of substances that are derived from nitrobenzene , anisole (methoxybenzene) and aniline (aminobenzene). The structure consists of a benzene ring with attached nitro (–NO 2 ), methoxy (–OCH 3 ) and amino (–NH 2 ) groups as substituents . Their different arrangement results in ten constitutional isomers with the empirical formula C 7 H 8 N 2 O 3 .
If one proceeds from the disubstituted parent compounds, then one can consider the nitroanisidines as methoxy derivatives of nitroanilines , as amino derivatives of nitroanisoles or as nitro derivatives of anisidines . The naming followed the last variant because the anisidines are the only ones of the three disubstituted parent compounds that form a completely separate name.