Alkanes are saturated hydrocarbons with a general formula of CnH2n+2. They are used as clean burning fuels and can form derivatives with alkyl groups. Naming of derivatives follows IUPAC guidelines.
Alkanes are hydrocarbons that contain only single bonds. These are saturated hydrocarbons, so all the carbons in the molecule are bonded to hydrogen at every available site. The general formula of alkanes is CnH2n+2. This means that for every carbon in the alkane, there are twice that number of hydrogens, plus two more.
All alkanes have an “-ane” ending. Prefixes are determined by how many carbon atoms are in the main chain. Some examples of alkanes are propane (C3H8), methane (CH4) and ethane (C2H6). The following prefixes are “but-“, “pent-“, “hex-“, “hept-“, “oct-“, “non-“ and “dec-“.
The flammability of alkanes makes them excellent clean burning fuels. The waste products of burning alkanes include water and carbon dioxide. Gaseous alkanes are used directly as fuel, and liquid alkanes can combine to form energy sources such as gasoline or kerosene. There are also solid types of alkanes in products like petroleum jelly and even asphalt.
If the final hydrogen is removed from an alkane, a functional group called an alkyl group results. These alkyl groups bond with other hydrocarbons to create alkane derivatives. Derivatives of alkanes have the same formulas as other alkanes, but are structural isomers.
Structural isomers have the same elements in the same proportions, but are arranged differently in space. Most alkane derivatives are not as combustible as regular alkanes. Instead, they are found in plastics, makeup, and some liquid laundry detergents.
The naming of alkane derivatives follows the system established by the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC). The root word is the name of the alkane denoted by the number of carbon atoms in the main chain. The alkyl group name is taken from the name of the regular alkane with an identical number of carbon atoms. The suffix “-yl” replaces the typical ending “-ane”.
The position of the alkyl group is given by a number indicating which carbon it is attached to. If there is more than one of the same alkyl group attached to the hydrocarbon, the Greek prefixes used in most sciences, such as “di-“, “tri-“, “tetra-“, and so on, are used to indicate how many. If more than one alkyl group is attached to the same carbon chain, they are listed alphabetically.
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