5. The Nomenclature of Organic Compounds 5.1 Design and Structure of the Package

All PCCAL packages are produced in a similar way using a prototyping model and an agreed House Style is incorporated into the design of all packages. This covers navigational tools, standardised colours, terminology and icons. The structure and format of the packages, where each package is broken down into stand-alone activities, is also uniformly adopted. This package was developed by the School of Pharmacy at Liverpool John Moores University. It was originally released in July 1993 and version 2 of the package was available from October 1995. The evaluation was based upon version 2. The package is divided into three sections:- Alkanes Unsaturated Aliphatic Hydrocarbons Functional Group Nomenclature The overall aims and objectives for the package are: AIM To introduce students to the IUPAC system of nomenclature and its conventions OBJECTIVES The student should be able to:   1. Recognise the correct name for an organic molecule when presented with alternatives 2. Derive the correct name for a given structure Both objectives apply to each of the three sections of the package shown below. 1. Alkanes Introduction to the IUPAC system Identifying the Parent Hydrocarbon Numbering the Carbon atoms in the Main Chain Identifying and Numbering the Substituents Naming the Compounds Multichoice Problems Questions 2. Unsaturated Alphatic Hydrocarbons Theory Multichoice Problems Questions 3. Functional Nomenclature Group Alcohols Aldehydes Ketones and Ethers Carbolic acids, Esters, Acyl halides & Amides Amines and Alkyl halides Questions, Name the compound   Within each section there are a number of subsections or activities. In each section there is a series of interactive tutorials, followed by a section on multiple choice questions (in Alkanes and Unsaturated Aliphatic Hydrocarbons only) and a section called 'Name That Compound' where students are asked to type in the full compound name. Students have one attempt at multiple choice questions before they are offered the "Show Solution" button. This then offers a full breakdown to the answer. When typing in compound names, students are expected to enter a perfect answer, otherwise they are told to try again. They are given two attempts. There is no analysis of wrong answer inputs or pointers to areas where the user may be making a mistake. However a full explanation is given once the student has selected "Show Solution".