Quaternary carbon

quaternary carbon
Structural formula of neopentane (quaternary carbon is highlighted red)

A quaternary carbon is a carbon atom bound to four other carbon atoms.^[1] For this reason, quaternary carbon atoms are found only in hydrocarbons having at least five carbon atoms. Quaternary carbon atoms can occur in branched alkanes, but not in linear alkanes.^[2]

	primary carbon	secondary carbon	tertiary carbon	quaternary carbon
General structure (R = Organyl group)
Partial Structural formula