What's the name for an organic compound in which halogen atoms are substituted for hydrogen in a hydrocarbon?
alcohol
sodium halide
glucose
alkyl halide
An alkyl halide is an organic compound in which one or more halogen atoms are substituted for one or more hydrogen atoms in a hydrocarbon. The general formulas for organic molecules with functional groups use the letter R to stand for the rest of the molecule outside of the functional group. Because there are four possible halogen atoms (fluorine, chlorine, bromine, or iodine) that can act as the functional group, we use the general formula R−X to represent an alkyl halide. The rules for naming simple alkyl halides are listed below.