Organic Chemistry (I) Alkanes Dr.

Ayad Kareem

Alkanes
Alkanes are simplest family of molecules that contain the carbon– carbon single bond
results from σ (head-on) overlap of carbon sp3 hybrid orbitals.
Alkanes are often described as saturated hydrocarbons: hydrocarbons because they
contain only carbon and hydrogen; saturated because they have only C-C and C-H
single bonds and thus contain the maximum possible number of hydrogens per
carbon. They have the general formula CnH2n+2, where n is an integer. Alkanes are
also occasionally called aliphatic compounds.

Think about the ways that carbon and hydrogen might combine to make alkanes. With
one carbon and four hydrogens, only one structure is possible: methane, CH4.
Similarly, there is only one combination of two carbons with six hydrogens (ethane,
CH3CH3) and only one combination of three carbons with eight hydrogens (propane,
CH3CH2CH3). When larger numbers of carbons and hydrogens combine, however,
more than one structure is possible.
For example, there are two substances with the formula C4H10: the four carbons can
all be in a row (butane), or they can branch (isobutane). Similarly, there are three
C5H12 molecules, and so on for larger alkanes.

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Organic Chemistry (I) Alkanes Dr. Ayad Kareem

Compounds like butane and pentane, whose carbons are all connected in a row, are
called straight-chain alkanes, or normal alkanes. Compounds like 2-methylpropane
(isobutane), 2-methylbutane, and 2,2-dimethylpropane, whose carbon chains branch,
are called branched-chain alkanes.
Compounds like the two C4H10 molecules and the three C5H12 molecules, which have
the same formula but different structures, are called isomers, from the Greek isos +
meros, meaning ―made of the same parts.‖ Isomers are compounds that have the
same numbers and kinds of atoms but differ in the way the atoms are arranged.
Compounds like butane and isobutane, whose atoms are connected differently, are
called constitutional isomers.
We’ll see shortly that other kinds of isomers are also possible, even among
compounds whose atoms are connected in the same order. As Table 3-2 shows, the
number of possible alkane isomers increases dramatically with the number of carbon
atom

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Organic Chemistry (I) Alkanes Dr. Ayad Kareem

Constitutional isomerism is not limited to alkanes it occurs widely throughout organic

chemistry. Constitutional isomers may have different carbon skeletons (as in
isobutane and butane), different functional groups (as in ethanol and dimethyl ether),
or different locations of a functional group along the chain (as in isopropylamine and
propylamine). Regardless of the reason for the isomerism, constitutional isomers are
always different compounds with different properties but with the same formula.

A given alkane can be drawn in many ways. For example, the straight chain, four-
carbon alkane called butane can be represented by any of the structures shown in
Figure 3-2. These structures don’t imply any particular three-dimensional geometry
for butane; they indicate only the connections among atoms. In practice, chemists
rarely draw all the bonds in a molecule and usually refer to butane by the condensed
structure, CH3CH2CH2CH3 or CH3(CH2)2CH3. Still more simply, butane can be
represented as n-C4H10, where n denotes normal (straight-chain) butane.

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Organic Chemistry (I) Alkanes Dr. Ayad Kareem

Figure 3-2 some representations of butane, C4H10. The molecule is the same regardless of how it’s
drawn. These structures imply only that butane has a continuous chain of four carbon atoms;
they do not imply any specific geometry.

Straight-chain alkanes are named according to the number of carbon atoms they
contain, as shown in Table 3-3. With the exception of the first four compounds
(methane, ethane, propane, and butane) whose names have historical roots, the
alkanes are named based on Greek numbers. The suffix -ane is added to the end of
each name to indicate that the molecule identified is an alkane. Thus, pentane is the
five-carbon alkane; hexane is the six carbon alkane, and so on. We’ll soon see that
these alkane names form the basis for naming all other organic compounds, so at least
the first ten should be memorized.

Alkyl Groups
If you imagine removing a hydrogen atom from an alkane, the partial structure that
remains is called an alkyl group. Alkyl groups are not stable compounds themselves;
they are simply parts of larger compounds. Alkyl groups are named by replacing the -
ane ending of the parent alkane with an -yl ending.

For example, removal of hydrogen from methane, CH4, generates a methyl group, -
CH3, and removal of hydrogen from ethane, CH3CH3, generates an ethyl group, -
CH2CH3. Similarly, removal of a hydrogen atom from the end carbon of any straight-
chain alkane gives the series of straight-chain alkyl groups shown in Table 3-4.

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Organic Chemistry (I) Alkanes Dr. Ayad Kareem

Combining an alkyl group with any of the functional groups listed earlier makes it
possible to generate and name many thousands of compounds. For example:

Just as straight-chain alkyl groups are generated by removing hydrogen from an end
carbon, branched alkyl groups are generated by removing a hydrogen atom from an
internal carbon. Two 3-carbon alkyl groups and four 4-carbon alkyl groups are
possible (Figure 3-3).

Figure 3-3 Alkyl groups generated from straight-chain alkanes.

One further comment about naming alkyl groups: the prefixes sec- (for secondary)
and tert- (for tertiary) used for the C4 alkyl groups in Figure 3-3 refer to the number
of other carbon atoms attached to the branching carbon atom. There are four
possibilities: primary (1°), secondary (2°), tertiary (3°), and quaternary (4°).

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Organic Chemistry (I) Alkanes Dr. Ayad Kareem

The symbol R is used here and throughout organic chemistry to represent a

generalized organic group. The R group can be methyl, ethyl, propyl, or any of a
multitude of others. You might think of R as representing the Rest of the molecule,
which isn’t specified.
The terms primary, secondary, tertiary, and quaternary are routinely used in organic
chemistry, and their meanings need to become second nature. For example, if we were
to say, ―Citric acid is a tertiary alcohol,‖ we would mean that it has an alcohol
functional group (-OH) bonded to a carbon atom that is itself bonded to three other
carbons.

In addition, we also speak of hydrogen atoms as being primary, secondary, or tertiary.

Primary hydrogen atoms are attached to primary carbons (RCH3), secondary
hydrogens are attached to secondary carbons (R2CH2), and tertiary hydrogens are
attached to tertiary carbons (R3CH). There is, of course, no such thing as quaternary
hydrogen.

Naming Alkanes
A chemical name typically has four parts in the IUPAC system of nomenclature:
prefix, parent, locant, and suffix. The prefix identifies the various substituent groups
in the molecule, the parent selects a main part of the molecule and tells how many
carbon atoms are in that part, the locants give the positions of the functional groups
and substituents, and the suffix identifies
the primary functional group.

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Organic Chemistry (I) Alkanes Dr. Ayad Kareem

Step 1
Find the parent hydrocarbon.
(a) Find the longest continuous chain of carbon atoms in the molecule, and use the
name of that chain as the parent name. The longest chain may not always be apparent
from the manner of writing; you may have to ―turn corners.‖

(b) If two different chains of equal length are present, choose the one with the larger
number of branch points as the parent.

Step 2
Number the atoms in the longest chain.
(a) Beginning at the end nearer the first branch point, number each carbon atom in the
parent chain.

The first branch occurs at C3 in the proper system of numbering, not at C4.

(b) If there is branching an equal distance away from both ends of the parent chain,
begin numbering at the end nearer the second branch point.

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Organic Chemistry (I) Alkanes Dr. Ayad Kareem

Step 3
Identify and number the substituents.
(a) Assign a number, or locant, to each substituent to locate its point of attachment to
the parent chain.

(b) If there are two substituents on the same carbon, give both the same number.
There must be as many numbers in the name as there are substituents.

Step 4
Write the name as a single word.
Use hyphens to separate the different prefixes, and use commas to separate numbers.
If two or more different substituents are present, cite them in alphabetical order. If
two or more identical substituents are present on the parent chain, use one of the
multiplier prefixes di-, tri-, tetra-, and so forth, but don’t use these prefixes for
alphabetizing. Full names for some of the examples we have been using are as
follows:

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Organic Chemistry (I) Alkanes Dr. Ayad Kareem

Step 5
Name a branched substituent as though it were itself a compound.
In some particularly complex cases, a fifth step is necessary. It occasionally happens
that a substituent on the main chain is itself branched. In the following case, for
instance, the substituent at C6 is a three-carbon chain with a methyl group. To name
the compound fully, the branched substituent must first be named.

Number the branched substituent beginning at the point of its attachment to the main
chain, and identify it—in this case, a 2-methylpropyl group.
The substituent is treated as a whole and is alphabetized according to the first letter of
its complete name, including any numerical prefix. It is set off in parentheses when
naming the entire molecule.

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Organic Chemistry (I) Alkanes Dr. Ayad Kareem

As a further example:

For historical reasons, some of the simpler branched-chain alkyl groups also have
nonsystematic, common names, as noted earlier.

The common names of these simple alkyl groups are so well entrenched in the
chemical literature that IUPAC rules make allowance for them. Thus, the following
compound is properly named either 4-(1-methylethyl) heptane or 4-isopropylheptane.
There’s no choice but to memorize these common names; fortunately, there are only a
few of them.

When writing an alkane name, the non-hyphenated prefix iso- is considered part of
the alkyl-group name for alphabetizing purposes, but the hyphenated and italicized
prefixes sec- and tert- are not. Thus, isopropyl and isobutyl are listed alphabetically
under i, but sec-butyl and tert-butyl are listed under b

Physical Properties of Alkanes

Alkanes are sometimes referred to as paraffins, a word derived from the Latin parum
affinis, meaning ―little affinity.‖ This term aptly describes their behavior, for alkanes

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Organic Chemistry (I) Alkanes Dr. Ayad Kareem

show little chemical affinity for other substances and are chemically inert to most
laboratory reagents. They are also relatively inert biologically and are not often
involved in the chemistry of living organisms.
Alkanes are used primarily as fuels, solvents, and lubricants. Natural gas, gasoline,
kerosene, heating oil, lubricating oil, and paraffin ―wax‖ are all composed primarily
of alkanes, with different physical properties resulting from different ranges of
molecular weights.

1. Solubilities and Densities of Alkanes

Alkanes are nonpolar, so they dissolve in nonpolar or weakly polar organic solvents.
Alkanes are said to be hydrophobic (―water hating‖) because they do not dissolve in
water. Alkanes are good lubricants and preservatives for metals because they keep
water from reaching the metal surface and causing corrosion.
Alkanes have densities around 0.7 g/mL, compared with a density of 1.0 g/mL for
water. Because alkanes are less dense than water and insoluble in water, a mixture of
an alkane (such as gasoline or oil) and water quickly separates into two phases, with
the alkane on top.

2. Boiling point and melting point

Alkanes show regular increases in boiling point and melting point as molecular
weight increases (Figure 3-4). Only when sufficient energy is applied to overcome
these forces does the solid melt or liquid boil. As you might expect, dispersion forces
increase as molecule size increases, accounting for the higher melting and boiling
points of larger alkanes.

Figure 3-4 A plot of melting and boiling points versus number of carbon atoms for the C1–C14
straight-chain alkanes. There is a regular increase with molecular size.

Another effect seen in alkanes is that increased branching lowers an alkane’s boiling
point. Thus, pentane has no branches and boils at 36.1 °C, isopentane (2-
methylbutane) has one branch and boils at 27.85 °C, and neopentane (2,2-

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Organic Chemistry (I) Alkanes Dr. Ayad Kareem

dimethylpropane) has two branches and boils at 9.5 °C. Similarly, octane boils at
125.7 °C, whereas isooctane (2,2,4-trimethylpentane) boils at 99.3 °C. Branched-
chain alkanes are lower-boiling because they are more nearly spherical than straight-
chain alkanes, have smaller surface areas, and consequently have smaller dispersion
forces.

Reactions of Alkanes
Alkanes do, however, react with oxygen, halogens, and a few other substances under
appropriate conditions. Reaction with oxygen occurs during combustion in an engine
or furnace when an alkane is used as a fuel. Carbon dioxide and water are formed as
products, and a large amount of heat is released. For example, methane (natural gas)
reacts with oxygen according to the equation

1. Combustion is a rapid oxidation that takes place at high temperatures,

converting alkanes to carbon dioxide and water. Little control over the
reaction is possible, except for moderating the temperature and controlling the
fuel/air ratio to achieve efficient burning.

2. Cracking and Hydrocracking catalytic cracking of large hydrocarbons at

high temperatures produces smaller hydrocarbons. The cracking process
usually operates under conditions that give the maximum yields of gasoline. In
hydrocracking, hydrogen is added to give saturated hydrocarbons; cracking
without hydrogen gives mixtures of alkanes and alkenes.

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Organic Chemistry (I) Alkanes Dr. Ayad Kareem

3. Halogenation Alkanes can react with halogens (F2, Cl2, Br2, I2) to form alkyl
halides. For example, methane reacts with chlorine to form chloromethane
(methyl chloride), dichloromethane (methylene chloride), trichloromethane
(chloroform), and tetrachloromethane (carbon tetrachloride).
The reaction of an alkane with Cl2 occurs when a mixture of the two is irradiated with
ultraviolet light (denoted hy, where y is the Greek letter nu). Depending on the time
allowed and the relative amounts of the two reactants, a sequential substitution of the
alkane hydrogen atoms by chlorine occurs, leading to a mixture of chlorinated
products. Methane, for instance, reacts with Cl2 to yield a mixture of CH3Cl, CH2Cl2,
CHCl3, and CCl4.

A radical is highly reactive because it contains an atom with an odd number of

electrons (usually seven) in its valence shell, rather than a stable, noble gas octet. A
radical can achieve a valence-shell octet in several ways. For example, the radical
might abstract an atom and one bonding electron from another reactant, leaving
behind a new radical. The net result is a radical substitution reaction.

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Organic Chemistry (I) Alkanes Dr. Ayad Kareem

An example of an industrially useful radical reaction is the chlorination of methane to

yield chloromethane. This substitution reaction is the first step in the preparation of
the solvents dichloromethane (CH2Cl2) and chloroform (CHCl3).

Like many radical reactions in the laboratory, methane chlorination requires three
kinds of steps: initiation, propagation, and termination.

Initiation Irradiation with ultraviolet light begins the reaction by breaking the
relatively weak Cl-Cl bond of a small number of Cl2 molecules to give a few reactive
chlorine radicals.

Propagation Once produced, a reactive chlorine radical collides with a methane

molecule in a propagation step, abstracting a hydrogen atom to give HCl and a methyl
radical (·CH3). This methyl radical reacts further with Cl2 in a second propagation
step to give the product chloromethane plus a new chlorine radical, which cycles back
and repeats the first propagation step. Thus, once the sequence has been initiated, it
becomes a self-sustaining cycle of repeating steps (a) and (b), making the overall
process a chain reaction.

Termination Occasionally, two radicals might collide and combine to form a stable
product. When that happens, the reaction cycle is broken and the chain is ended. Such
termination steps occur infrequently, however, because the concentration of radicals
in the reaction at any given moment is very small. Thus, the likelihood that two
radicals will collide is also small.

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