Since the 1913 edition of Webster's dictionary, the nomenclature of hydrocarbons has become more specific in regards to structure. Undecane is now specifically a string of eleven linked carbon atoms, like so:

  H H H H H H H H H H H
  | | | | | | | | | | |
H-C-C-C-C-C-C-C-C-C-C-C-H
  | | | | | | | | | | |
  H H H H H H H H H H H
Other forms of C11H24 are not considered undecane, but are identified by naming the longest string of carbon atoms, then referencing the branches off of them, as in 2-methyl decane, below:
  H H H H H H H H H H
  | | | | | | | | | |
H-C-C-C-C-C-C-C-C-C-C-H
  | | | | | | | | | |
  H | H H H H H H H H
  H-C-H
    |
    H

Un"de*cane (?), n. [L. undecim eleven.] Chem.

A liquid hydrocarbon, C11H24, of the methane series, found in petroleum; -- so called from its containing eleven carbon atoms in the molecule.

 

© Webster 1913.

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