Question

Explain structural isomerism with suitable examples.

Answer 1

Isomers are molecules that have the same molecular formula, but have a different structural arrangement of the atoms in space. This is carried out by rearranging the positions of the different atoms present in the compound.

Complete step by step answer:
The different arrangements in structural isomers are possible due to the molecule rotating as a whole or rotating about particular bonds.
In structural isomerism, the order of arrangement of atoms are different. This can be understood easily with the help of some examples. Alkanes are the simplest class of organic compounds that show structural isomerism. They contain only tetravalent (making 4 covalent bonds) carbon atoms and hydrogen who can arrange themselves in different orientations. Butane, methylpropane etc. are examples for this.

n-Butane

methylpropane

We can see that in both of these structures, there are only carbon and hydrogen atoms and they can arrange themselves to different orientations in space.
There are different types of structural isomerism and they are namely chain isomerism, position isomerism and functional group isomerism. All these are exhibited by compounds having atoms of the same kind. In position isomerism, the positions of the atoms in the compound change and in functional group isomerism also the position of the various functional groups substituted in the chain change and we obtain functional group isomers. In chain isomerism, the orientation of the chain differs in each of the isomers as the position of atoms differ in the chain.

Additional Information:
There are various types of isomerism and the two main forms are structural isomerism or constitutional isomerism and the main other type is spatial or stereo isomerism. In both of these, the molecular formulas are the same.

Note: Isomers are compounds that have the same molecular formula but different structural orientations in the world. These compounds are of a variety of uses in the industry because when they orient in different arrangements, their properties may also differ.