One of my homework problems asks if the picture below is s valid constitutional isomer of c8h14.

Does the question also say "ask people on the net to answer this for you"?

Every junction of lines you see is a carbon atom. Carbon is 4-valent. Add up the carbons and hydrogens...this shouldn't be difficult.

Every junction of lines you see is a carbon atom. Carbon is 4-valent. Add up the carbons and hydrogens...this shouldn't be difficult.

 

I know it's not that hard, but I was wondering if this structure can actually exist in nature. It seems odd that there are a chain of carbons within the carbon ring.

 

Does the question also say "ask people on the net to answer this for you"?

 

Don't be rude. See above why I asked.

I know it's not that hard, but I was wondering if this structure can actually exist in nature. It seems odd that there are a chain of carbons within the carbon ring.

 

 

 

Not odd at all, in fact it is a very common motif in natural products, etc. If you have access to SciFinder through a university/institution, you should go on it and do a substructure search of that compound. You will find thousands of compounds containing that type of core.

 

Your confusion may have been from assuming that the structure you drew was flat, which would of course seem a little odd. However, it is not flat. The 3D structure of the compound you've drawn will have the bridge head (the two carbons you've drawn inside the cyclohexane ring) sticking out from the main ring like this:

 

 

 

 

Edited September 7, 201114 yr by hypervalent_iodine