Quick Question About Structural Isomers

[squance]

I have a quick question...

Say you were given a picture of the structure of a certain molecule and an exam question asks you to find the maximum number of structural isomers.

Is there any systematic way of doing this so that you actually find all the isomers without missing one or two isomers?

[mark_alec]

Not really. You just have to think of all the possible different combinations the elements in the compound could combine in.

Do you have an example of a question, because depending on the type of molecule you are dealing with, there may be ways to work it out easily.

[squance]

I was looking at my friend's Chemistry 1 university notes and it was talking about isomers.

In my friend's notes, there was an example C6H14, which had 5 different isomers - but it didn't state whether it was the maximum number of isomers or not.

yeah. I just wanted to know an easy way to find the max number of isomers because I suck at this LOL

Thanks anyways

[mark_alec]

For alkanes, the easiest way to work out the number of isomers is to draw them out. Just systematically draw them, from longest chain, to most branched.

[shonakennedy]

i hated doing that. most time consuming and annoying thing ever. so i didnt do it 

dont follow by my example honey.