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[1]: 623 The most general form of saturated hydrocarbons, (whether linear or branched species, and whether with or without one or more rings) is C n H 2n+2(1-r), where r is the number of rings. Those with exactly one ring are the cycloalkanes. Saturated hydrocarbons are the basis of petroleum fuels and may be either linear or branched species ...
Because of this small difference in electronegativities, the C−H bond is generally regarded as being non-polar. In structural formulas of molecules, the hydrogen atoms are often omitted. Compound classes consisting solely of C−H bonds and C−C bonds are alkanes, alkenes, alkynes, and aromatic hydrocarbons. Collectively they are known as ...
Their solubility in nonpolar solvents is relatively high, a property that is called lipophilicity. Alkanes are, for example, miscible in all proportions among themselves. The density of the alkanes usually increases with the number of carbon atoms but remains less than that of water. Hence, alkanes form the upper layer in an alkane–water mixture.
Double bonds are shorter than single bonds with an average bond length of 1.33 Å (133 pm) vs 1.53 Å for a typical C-C single bond. [ 7 ] Each carbon atom of the double bond uses its three sp 2 hybrid orbitals to form sigma bonds to three atoms (the other carbon atom and two hydrogen atoms).
One common form of polar interaction is the hydrogen bond, which is also known as the H-bond. For example, water forms H-bonds and has a molar mass M = 18 and a boiling point of +100 °C, compared to nonpolar methane with M = 16 and a boiling point of –161 °C.
Unsaturated compounds generally carry out typical addition reactions that are not possible with saturated compounds such as alkanes. A saturated organic compound has only single bonds between carbon atoms. An important class of saturated compounds are the alkanes. Many saturated compounds have functional groups, e.g., alcohols.
In higher molecular weight alcohols, the properties of the nonpolar hydrocarbon chain(s) dominate and determine their solubility. Van der Waals forces are also responsible for the weak hydrogen bond interactions between unpolarized dipoles particularly in acid-base aqueous solution and between biological molecules.
Regarding the organization of covalent bonds, recall that classic molecular solids, as stated above, consist of small, non-polar covalent molecules. The example given, paraffin wax , is a member of a family of hydrocarbon molecules of differing chain lengths, with high-density polyethylene at the long-chain end of the series.