Notes on the organic structure of substances related to anaesthesia.

"Organic chemical nomenclature is an infuriating subject." So wrote Cahn in 1959. One of the fundamental differences between organic and inorganic chemistry is that carbon atoms have the property of Unking on to one another to form chains or rings. The ordinary inorganic molecular formula rarely contains more than ten atoms, but the organic molecule may number its component atoms in dozens, in hundreds, or even in thousands. The organic chemists have thus had to develop a system of nomenclature to describe these often highly complex organic compounds. The first serious attempt to do this was in 1892 when the International Congress at Geneva made recommendations, but the current system was not introduced until 1930. This is now based on the "Definitive Report of the Committee for the Reform of Nomenclature in Organic Chemistry", and is constantly being revised.