Quaternary carbon atom

Quaternary carbon atom

Structural formula of neopentane (the quaternary carbon atom is marked in red )

A quaternary carbon atom is a carbon atom that is bonded to four other carbon atoms. For this reason, quaternary carbon atoms are only found in hydrocarbons with at least five carbon atoms. Quaternary carbon atoms can, for example , occur in branched alkanes , but not in linear alkanes.

	Comparison of quaternary with primary , secondary and tertiary carbon atoms ( red )
	Primary carbon atom	Secondary carbon atom	Tertiary carbon atom	Quaternary carbon atom
General structure (R = organyl residue )
Extract from structural formula

Individual evidence

↑ Hans Peter Latscha, Uli Kazmaier, Helmut Alfons Klein: Organic Chemistry: Chemistry Basics II . 7th edition. Springer Spectrum, Berlin 2016, ISBN 978-3-662-46180-8 , p. 40 .

[1] Hans Peter Latscha, Uli Kazmaier, Helmut Alfons Klein: Organic Chemistry: Chemistry Basics II . 7th edition. Springer Spectrum, Berlin 2016, ISBN 978-3-662-46180-8 , p. 40 .