Butanol

Butanol is an organic compound. It is the alcohol form of butane, and has the chemical formula C₄H₉OH. There are four structural isomers of butanol. Normally, the name "butanol" on its own means 1-butanol, the straight chain primary alcohol. The other isomers are 2-butanol, isobutanol, and tert-butyl alcohol.

Isomers

Butanol is the smallest alcohol to have skeletal isomers (as butane is the smallest alkane with them). Each skeletal isomer has two positional isomers depending on the place the hydroxy group is attached to the skeleton. The 2-butanol isomer is the smallest alcohol to have stereoisomerism. This makes butanol more complicated than smaller alcohols:

Formula	Alcohol(s)	Functional isomers (not alcohols)	Skeletal isomer	Positional isomer	Stereoisomers
CH₄O	Methanol	None
C₂H₆O	Ethanol	Dimethyl ether	None
C₃H₈O	Propanol	Ethyl methyl ether	None	1-Propanol	None
C₃H₈O	Propanol	Ethyl methyl ether	None	Isopropanol	None
C₄H₁₀O	Butanol	Diethyl ether, methyl propyl ether, isopropyl methyl ether	Butane	1-Butanol	None
			Butane	2-Butanol	R and S
			Isobutane	Isobutanol	None
			Isobutane	tert-Butyl alcohol	None

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