Hydrocarbons

• Organic chemistry


  Chemistry of compounds containing carbon
• Carbon


  • Useful for making large compounds
  • Can form four strong bonds
  • Most commonly bonded to other carbon atoms or hydrogen atoms
• Hydrocarbons


  Compounds formed from carbon and hydrogen only
• Hydrocarbons


  • Butane
  • Butanol (not a hydrocarbon as it contains oxygen)
• First four alkanes


  • Methane
  • Ethane
  • Propane
  • Butane
• Homologous series


  • Groups of organic compounds with similar properties and reactions
  • Can be described by a general formula
• Alkanes are saturated compounds, with every carbon having four single covalent bonds
• Changing an alkane to have a double bond would make it an alkene, not an alkane