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Noteworthy said:
Are you suggesting that the N is directly connected to the O?

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No, not at all.  I'm just saying I would write it like that (Et₂NOC- instead of Et₂NCO-) if I were using that sort of notation.


Basically, it's like the difference between writing benzamide as:
Instead of writing it like this:

You'll notice from that red box in the first image that ChemDraw doesn't recognize that as a legitimate notation for an amide. R₂NOC- or -CONR₂  are acceptable notations; R₂NCO- or -OCNR₂ are not, AFAIK.


Though personally, I'd avoid the whole can of worms by writing it like this:

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Noteworthy said:
mhm it would be good if chemists were less anal about their notations

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- in the end there are many different acceptable ways to write a chemical in a certain context.

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For, although different orders of the letters are significant for certain reasons, there is only one reasonable way to construct Et2NCO / Et2NOC

or is there another?

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Well, if we're discarding conventions and connecting the atoms any way we please, then it could be any of the following:




And regarding your claim:

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if it can only be LSD then it is unambiguously LSD and thus correctly written.

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Entropymancer said:

And regarding your claim:

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if it can only be LSD then it is unambiguously LSD and thus correctly written.

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Even IF the only way to arrange it were as a diethylamide, it would still not be correctly written; it's written with the oxygen bonded to the ring, which is simply not correct.

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