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In organic chemistry, an alkane, or paraffin (a historical trivial name that also has other meanings), is an acyclic saturated hydrocarbon. In other words, an alkane consists of hydrogen and carbon atoms arranged in a tree structure in which all the carbon–carbon bonds are single. [1] Alkanes have the general chemical formula C n H 2n+2.
The following is a list of straight-chain alkanes, the total number of isomers of each (including branched chains), and their common names, sorted by number of carbon atoms. [ 1 ] [ 2 ] Number of C atoms
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.
Aliphatic compounds can be saturated, joined by single bonds (), or unsaturated, with double bonds or triple bonds ().If other elements (heteroatoms) are bound to the carbon chain, the most common being oxygen, nitrogen, sulfur, and chlorine, it is no longer a hydrocarbon, and therefore no longer an aliphatic compound.
Higher alkanes are naturally present in crude oil and can be obtained via fractional distillation.Saturated fatty acids decarboxylate to higher alkanes. Long olefins can be hydrogenated to yield higher alkanes. n-alkanes can be isolated via the formation of urea clathrates.They can also be synthesized through Kolbe electrolysis or other coupling reactions like the Wurtz reaction.
Octane is a hydrocarbon and also an alkane with the chemical formula C 8 H 18, and the condensed structural formula CH 3 (CH 2) 6 CH 3.Octane has many structural isomers that differ by the location of branching in the carbon chain.
For example, the simplest alkane is CH 4 methane, and the nine-carbon alkane CH 3 (CH 2) 7 CH 3 is named nonane. The names of the first four alkanes were derived from methanol, ether, propionic acid and butyric acid, respectively.
In organic chemistry, the cycloalkanes (also called naphthenes, but distinct from naphthalene) are the monocyclic saturated hydrocarbons. [1] In other words, a cycloalkane consists only of hydrogen and carbon atoms arranged in a structure containing a single ring (possibly with side chains ), and all of the carbon-carbon bonds are single .