Naming of compound

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I looked on wikipedia and the IUPAC name for citric acid



is given as "2-hydroxypropane-1,2,3-tricarboxylic acid"

But the longest carbon chain is 5... don't you count the first and last carbon atoms?

[Collin Li]

(Unit 3 Q&A)

There's an answer for this on Merspi

"The longest carbon chain is 3. We do not include the Carbon atoms on the carboxyl groups because these are functional groups that are already named under 'tricarboxylic acid'."

Read the other answers: http://merspi.com/questions/60/isnt-the-longest-carbon-chain-5

(Not relevant to Unit 4 Chemistry folk. Keen year 11s can benefit

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Thanks coblin