Hydrocarbons: Difference between revisions

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imported>Milton Beychok
m (Not all hydrocarbons have "high vapor pressures" nor are they all flammable. This article needs a great deal of work.)
imported>Howard C. Berkowitz
(New page: An '''alkane''' is an organic molecule composed of only carbon and hydrogen, arranged in a straight chain with only single carbon-carbon bonds. Their empirical formula, derived from the nu...)
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An '''alkane''' is an organic molecule composed of only carbon and hydrogen, arranged in a straight chain with only single carbon-carbon bonds. Their empirical formula, derived from the number of carbon atoms, is C<sub>n</sub>H2<sub>n+2</sub>.
'''Hydrocarbons''' are a class of [[molecule]]s that contain only [[carbon]] and [[hydrogen]] atoms.  Some of them make very good fuels.  Gasoline contains a mixture of hydrocarbons.  Unsaturated hydrocarbons, which contain one or more double bonds, are useful chemicals for many reactions.
 
== Linear saturated hydrocarbons ==
The simplest hydrocarbons are linear molecules in which each carbon atoms is bonded to two other carbons atoms, in a linear fashion, except for the carbon atoms at the ends, which are only bonded to one other carbon atom.  Saturated hydrocarbon names generally end with the suffix "ane" which distinguishes them from unsaturated hydrocarbons, which end with the suffix "ene".
 
<table border="1" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" bordercolor="#CCCCCC" bgcolor="#FFFFFF">
<tr><th>Hydrocarbon name</th><th>Chemical Formula</th>
</tr>
<tr><td>[[Methane]]</td><td>CH<sub>4</sub></td>
</tr>
<tr><td>[[Ethane]]</td><td>CH<sub>3</sub>-CH<sub>3</sub></td>
</tr>
<tr><td>[[Propane]]</td><td>CH<sub>3</sub>-CH<sub>2</sub>-CH<sub>3</sub></td>
</tr>
<tr><td>[[Butane]]</td><td>CH<sub>3</sub>-CH<sub>2</sub>-CH<sub>2</sub>-CH<sub>3</sub></td>
</tr>
<tr><td>[[Pentane]]</td><td>CH<sub>3</sub>-(CH<sub>2</sub>)<sub>3</sub>-CH<sub>2</sub>-CH<sub>3</sub></td>
</tr>
<tr><td>[[Hextane]]</td><td>CH<sub>3</sub>-(CH<sub>2</sub>)<sub>4</sub>-CH<sub>2</sub>-CH<sub>3</sub></td>
</tr>
<tr><td>[[Heptane]]</td><td>CH<sub>3</sub>-(CH<sub>2</sub>)<sub>5</sub>-CH<sub>2</sub>-CH<sub>3</sub></td>
</tr>
<tr><td>[[Octane]]</td><td>CH<sub>3</sub>-(CH<sub>2</sub>)<sub>6</sub>-CH<sub>2</sub>-CH<sub>3</sub></td>
</tr>
<tr><td>[[Nonane]]</td><td>CH<sub>3</sub>-(CH<sub>2</sub>)<sub>7</sub>-CH<sub>2</sub>-CH<sub>3</sub></td>
</tr>
<tr><td>[[Decane]]</td><td>CH<sub>3</sub>-(CH<sub>2</sub>)<sub>8</sub>-CH<sub>2</sub>-CH<sub>3</sub></td>
</tr>
<tr><td>[[Undecane]]</td><td>CH<sub>3</sub>-(CH<sub>2</sub>)<sub>9</sub>-CH<sub>2</sub>-CH<sub>3</sub></td>
</tr>
<tr><td>[[Dodecane]]</td><td>CH<sub>3</sub>-(CH<sub>2</sub>)<sub>10</sub>-CH<sub>2</sub>-CH<sub>3</sub></td>
</tr>
</table>
 
== Linear unsaturated hydrocarbons ==
Unsaturated hydrocarbons are useful precursor molecules for many reactions. Because they contain one or more double bonds, a large variety of chemical transformations are possible.  Unsaturated hydrocarbons generally end with the "ene" suffix, although common names are sometimes used instead of the IUPAC designation.  In addition, a numerical prefix is used to indicate the position of the double bond(s).
 
<table border="1" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" bordercolor="#CCCCCC" bgcolor="#FFFFFF">
<tr><th>Hydrocarbon name</th><th>Chemical Formula</th>
</tr>
 
<tr><td>[[Ethene]]</td><td>CH<sub>2</sub>-CH<sub>2</sub></td>
</tr>
<tr><td>[[Propene]]</td><td>CH<sub>2</sub>-CH<sub></sub>-CH<sub>3</sub></td>
</tr>
<tr><td>[[1-Butene]]</td><td>CH<sub>2</sub>-CH<sub></sub>-CH<sub>2</sub>-CH<sub>3</sub></td>
</tr>
<tr><td>[[2-Butene]]</td><td>CH<sub>3</sub>-CH<sub></sub>-CH<sub></sub>-CH<sub>3</sub></td>
</tr>
<tr><td>[[1-Pentane]]</td><td>CH<sub>2</sub>-CH-(CH<sub></sub>)<sub>2</sub>-CH<sub>2</sub>-CH<sub>3</sub></td>
</tr>
</table>
 
 
== cyclic saturated hydrocarbons ==
 
== cyclic unsaturated hydrocarbons ==
 
== aromatic hydrocarbons ==

Revision as of 13:57, 5 February 2009

An alkane is an organic molecule composed of only carbon and hydrogen, arranged in a straight chain with only single carbon-carbon bonds. Their empirical formula, derived from the number of carbon atoms, is CnH2n+2.

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