Nomenclature of lactones

Nomenclature of lactones is based on the nomenclature of hydroxycarboxyhc acids. The simplest P-lactone hypothetically derived from p-hydroxycarboxyhc acids is propano-3-lactone (formerly also known as 3-propanohde and P-propiolactone, 8-95), which can be considered an internal ester of 3-hydroxypropanoic acid. The simplest y-lactone is butano-4-lactone, also known as 4-butanolide or y-butyrolactone (8-96), which is derived from 4-hydroxybutanoic acid. The basic member of the homologous series of 5-lactones is pentano-5-lactone, also known as 5-pentanohde or 5-valerolactone (8-97), which is derived from... 

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