Hydrocarbons

Hydrocarbons are a class of molecules 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".

Linear saturated hydrocarbons are also called paraffins or alkanes.

Hydrocarbon name	Chemical Formula
Methane	CH4
Ethane	CH3-CH3
Propane	CH3-CH2-CH3
Butane	CH3-CH2-CH2-CH3
Pentane	CH3-(CH2)3-CH2-CH3
Hextane	CH3-(CH2)4-CH2-CH3
Heptane	CH3-(CH2)5-CH2-CH3
Octane	CH3-(CH2)6-CH2-CH3
Nonane	CH3-(CH2)7-CH2-CH3
Decane	CH3-(CH2)8-CH2-CH3
Undecane	CH3-(CH2)9-CH2-CH3
Dodecane	CH3-(CH2)10-CH2-CH3

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).

Linear unsaturated hydrocarbons are also called olefins or alkenes.

Hydrocarbon name	Chemical Formula
Ethene	CH2-CH2
Propene	CH2-CH-CH3
1-Butene	CH2-CH-CH2-CH3
2-Butene	CH3-CH-CH-CH3
1-Pentane	CH2-CH-(CH)2-CH2-CH3