hydrocarbons and alkanes

• Organic chemistry is the area of chemistry that focuses on compounds containing carbon
• Carbon is useful for making large compounds because each carbon atom can form four strong bonds
• Hydrocarbons are compounds formed only from carbon and hydrogen
• Butane is a hydrocarbon because it only contains carbon and hydrogen
• Butanol is not a hydrocarbon because it contains an oxygen atom
• Alkanes are the simplest type of hydrocarbons
• The first four alkanes are:

  • Methane: CH4
  • Ethane: C2H6
  • Propane: C3H8
  • Butane: C4H10
• Alkanes grow by one carbon and two hydrogens each time in the series
• Alkanes form a homologous series with similar properties and reactions
• The general formula for alkanes is CnH2n+2
• Using the general formula, the molecular formula of octane (C8) is C8H18
• Alkanes are saturated compounds with every carbon atom having four single covalent bonds
• If a double bond is introduced, the compound is classified as an alkene