A hydrocarbon is a compound containing only carbon and hydrogen atoms. As is the case in all organic compounds, carbon atoms make up the skeleton of hydrocarbons. Hydrocarbons can be broken down into 4 categories: alkanes, alkenes, alkynes and arenes.
Alkanes[]
Alkanes are compounds containing only carbon-carbon single bonds(C-C) and carbon-hydrogen(C-H) single bonds. Alkanes can be straight chained, branched or cyclic. Straight chained and branched alkanes, like ethene, are said to be saturated because the maximum number of hydrogen atoms bonded to the carbons making up the skeleton whereas cyclic alkanes such as cyclohexane are said to be unsaturated . A non-cyclic alkane has the formula CnH2n+2 where n is the number of carbon atoms. A cyclic alkane, on the other hand, has the formula CnH2n.
Alkenes[]
Alkenes are hydrocarbons containing 1 or more carbon-carbon double bonds(C=C). Alkenes are less stable and more reactive than alkanes. The simplest alkene is ethene, more commonly known as ethylene. It has the formula C2H4.
Like cycloalkanes, alkenes which have only 1 C=C bond can be written as CnH2n. The molecular geometry of the alkenes are usually trigonal planar.
Alkynes[]
Alkynes are hydrocarbons containing 1 or more carbon=carbon triple bonds(C≡C). The simplest alkyne is ethyne, also known as acetylene. An alkyne's triple bond is easily attacked, making alkynes highly reactive unless the triple bond is located in an inaccessable part of the molecule. Despite this, alkynes are know to exist in interstellar clouds.
Alkynes with only one C≡C bond have the formula CnH(2n-2).
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