Alkanes:
Alkanes are saturated hydrocarbons containing only carbon-carbon single bonds in their molecules. They are also called paraffins i.e. little affinity or reactivity because under normal conditions of temperature and pressure, alkanes do not reacts with reagents like acids, bases, oxidizing agent and reducing agent. However, under drastic conditions alkanes undergo some reactions. Alkanes can be represented by a general formula,
Cn H2n+2
Where, n = 1, 2, 3, 4… etc.
Nomenclature of alkanes:
The IUPAC rules for naming alkanes are given below.
- Select the longest continuous chain containing substituents.
- Name the longest chain ( or parent chain)
- Number the longest chain. The numbering is started from that end which will give numbers having the lowest value to carbons carrying substituents.
- Identify the substituent; indicate its position by the number of the carbon atom to which it is attached.
- Prefix the position number and name of the substituent onto the parent name. Notice that the number and names are separated by a hyphen.
- Identify the substituents by names and position numbers. When the same substituent is present in two or more times in the molecule, prefix di, tri, tetra, penta, etc. are used.
- When two or more different substituents are present, their names are arranged in alphabetic order. For examples,
