Alkanes Alkenes and Alkynes

Alkanes, Alkenes and
Alkynes
Hydrocarbon
Is a compound composed of only carbon and
hydrogen.
Alkanes are members of larger class of organic
compounds.
Many hydrocarbons are found in plants,
animals, and their fossils; other hydrocarbons
have been prepared in the laboratory. We use
hydrocarbons every day, mainly as fuels, such as
natural gas, acetylene, propane, butane, and
the principal components of gasoline, diesel
fuel, and heating oil.
Alkanes (Al-keinz)
The simplest organic compound.
Are saturated hydrocarbons, that is, they contain
only carbon-carbon single bonds.
Often refers as aliphatic hydrocarbons, because
the physical properties of the higher members of
this class resemble those of the long carbon-
chain molecules we find in animals fats and
plants oils.
Formula: CnH2n+2
Structure of Alkanes
Methane (CH4) and Ethane (C2H6) are the first

two members of the alkanes family.
The shape of methane and ethane are
tetrahedral and all bond angles are
approximately 109.5°.
In a tetrahedral molecular geometry, a
central atom is located at the center with
four substituents that are located at the
corners of a tetrahedron.
Methane Ethane
The next members of the Alkanes family are
propane, butane and pentane.
They are drawn in an even more abbreviated
form called a line-angle formula. In this type of
representation, a line represents a carbon-
carbon bond and an angle represents a carbon
atom.
A line ending represents a CH3 group.
Propane (CH3CH2CH3) Butane (CH3CH2CH2CH3)
Pentane (CH3CH2CH2CH2CH3)
Number of
Molecular Melting Point Boiling Point Structural
Alkane Formula (°C) (°C) Phase at STP[3] Isomers
methane CH4 –182.5 –161.5 gas 1
ethane C2H6 –183.3 –88.6 gas 1
propane C3H8 –187.7 –42.1 gas 1
butane C4H10 –138.3 –0.5 gas 2
pentane C5H12 –129.7 36.1 liquid 3
hexane C6H14 –95.3 68.7 liquid 5
heptane C7H16 –90.6 98.4 liquid 9
octane C8H18 –56.8 125.7 liquid 18
nonane C9H20 –53.6 150.8 liquid 35
decane C10H22 –29.7 174.0 liquid 75
tetradecane C14H30 5.9 253.5 solid 1858
octadecane C18H38 28.2 316.1 solid 60,523
Table 1. Properties of Some Alkanes
Hydrocarbons with the same formula, including
alkanes, can have different structures. For
example, two alkanes have the formula C4H10:
They are called n-butane and 2-methylpropane
(or isobutene), and have the following Lewis
structures:
The compounds n-butane and 2-methylpropane are
structural isomers (the term constitutional isomers is
also commonly used). Constitutional isomers have the
same molecular formula but different spatial
arrangements of the atoms in their molecules.
The n-butane molecule contains an unbranched
chain, meaning that no carbon atom is bonded to
more than two other carbon atoms. We use the
term normal, or the prefix n, to refer to a chain of
carbon atoms without branching. The compound 2–
methylpropane has a branched chain (the carbon
atom in the center of the Lewis structure is bonded to
three other carbon atoms)
Identifying isomers from Lewis structures is not as
easy as it looks. Lewis structures that look different
may actually represent the same isomers. For
example, the three structures in the figure below
represents all the same molecule, n-butane, and
hence are not different isomers. They are identical
because each contains an unbranched chain of
four carbon atoms.
Sources of Alkanes
Petroleum is a complex mixture of alkanes and
other hydrocarbons. It usually contains alkanes
having up to forty carbon atoms in their molecule.
The natural wax found near petroleum wells is a
mixture of higher solid hydrocarbons.
Natural gas. Methane is the major constituent of
the natural gas and occurs along with
petroleum in the earth’s sedimentary traps.
Destructive distillation of wood and coal. Methane is
produced as one of the by-products in the
manufacture of wood charcoal by destructive
distillation of wood and coal.
Anaerobic decomposition of organic matter, in the
presence of bacteria, liberates methane. For example,
bio-gas produced by anaerobic decomposition of
animal dung, excreta and plant wastes is rich in
methane gas. Methane is produced in marshy lands
by the bacterial decomposition of plant and animal
matter under water and is observed bubbling through
the surface. Since methane gas is produced in marshy
lands, it is also known as marsh gas.
Reactions of Alkanes
Combustion
Complete combustion (given sufficient oxygen) of
any hydrocarbon produces carbon dioxide and
water.
The hydrocarbons become harder to ignite as the
molecules get bigger. This is because the bigger
molecules don't vaporize so easily - the reaction is
much better if the oxygen and the hydrocarbon are
well mixed as gases. If the liquid is not very volatile,
only those molecules on the surface can react with
the oxygen.
Halogenation
is the replacement of one or more hydrogen atoms
in an organic compound by a halogen (fluorine,
chlorine, bromine or iodine). Unlike the complex
transformations of combustion, the halogenation of
an alkane appears to be a simple substitution
reaction in which a C-H bond is broken and a new
C-X bond is formed.
ALKENES (Al-keens)
Organic compounds that contain one or more
double or triple bonds between carbon atoms are
described as unsaturated.
Unsaturated hydrocarbon molecules that contain
one or more double bonds are called alkenes.
These are complex organic molecules with long
chains of carbon atoms, which contain at least one
double bond between carbon atoms.
Ethane, C2H4, is the simplest alkene. Each carbon
atom in ethane, commonly called ethylene, has a
trigonal planar structure;
The second member of the series is propene
(propylene);
The butane isomers follow in the series. Four carbon
atoms in the chain of butane allows for the
formation of isomers based on the position of the
double bond, as well as a new form of isomerism.
The name of an alkene is derived from the name of
the alkane with the same number of carbon atoms.
The presence of the double bond is signified by
replacing the suffix -ane with the suffix -ene.
Alkynes (Al-kinez)
Hydrocarbon molecules with one or more triple

bonds are called alkynes; they make up another
series of unsaturated hydrocarbons.
The simplest member of the alkyne series is
ethane, C2H2, commonly called acetylene. The
Lewis structure for ethane, a linear molecule, is:
Chemically, the alkynes are similar to the
alkenes. Since the functional group has two π
bonds, alkynes typically react even more readily,
and react with twice as much reagent in
addition reactions. The reaction of acetylene
with bromine is a typical example:
Acetylene and the other alkynes also burn readily.
An acetylene torch takes advantage of the high heat
of combustion for acetylene.

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Alkanes, Alkenes and

Methane (CH4) and Ethane (C2H6) are the first

Hydrocarbon molecules with one or more triple

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