11.

0 ALKANES

1ST HOUR

11.1 Structure of alkanes

11.2 Nomenclature of alkanes

(i) Straight chain
 ALKANES

At the end of this lecture, students should be able to:

1. Describe alkanes
2. Describe constitutional isomer
3. Draw the structure and name straight chain
alkanes
 Hydrocarbon
Hydrocarbons are organic compounds containing
ONLY carbon and hydrogen atoms.

Examples:
Alkane : Methane (CH4)
Alkene : Ethene (C2H4)
Alkyne : Ethyne (C2H2)
Arene : Benzene (C6H6)
 Hydrocarbons

saturated unsaturated

Contain only C-C Contain at least one

single bonds. carbon-carbon
double bond or
Examples: alkanes triple bond.
Examples: alkenes,
cycloalkanes alkynes.
 Acyclic Alkanes
are saturated hydrocarbons which
contain only single covalent bonds.
Example ; H
H C H
H
General formula of acyclic alkanes is
CnH2n+2 where n = 1, 2, .
Each carbon atom in the molecule is bonded to
four other atoms by single bonds in the form of
a tetrahedron
 Cycloalkanes

1. Cycloalkanes are saturated hydrocarbons

with the general formula of CnH2n.

2. All the bonds in cycloalkanes are single bonds.

3. Cycloalkanes have ring (cyclic) structures.

4. Example of cycloalkanes is given below:

 Isomerism

Is the existence of different compounds

with the same molecular formula but
different structural formula.

There are several types of isomerism and

one example is constitutional isomerism.
 Constitutional Isomerism
Different compound with the same molecular formula
but differ in the order of attachment of atoms
Example;
C5H12
CH3
CH3CH2CH2CH2CH3
CH3 C CH3
CH3CHCH2CH3 CH3
CH3
 exercise

Draw all possible constitutional isomers for

a. C4H10
b. C5H12
 IUPAC NOMENCLATURE
The 1st ten unbranched alkanes suffix - ane
Name Number of Molecular
Carbon Atoms Formula
Methane 1 CH4
Ethane 2 C2H6
Propane 3 C3H8
n-Butane 4 C4H10
n-Pentane 5 C5H12
n-Hexane 6 C6H14
n-Heptane 7 C7H16
n-Octane 8 C8H18
n-Nonane 9 C9H20
Name of the first ten of linear alkanes (n-alkanes)
Name Structural formula Molecular
Formula
Methane CH4 CH4
Ethane CH3CH3 C2H6
Propane CH3CH2CH3 C3H8
n-Butane CH3CH2CH2CH3 C4H10
n-Pentane CH3CH2CH2CH2CH3 C5H12
n-Hexane CH3(CH2)4CH3 C6H14
n-Heptane CH3(CH2)5CH3 C7H16
n-Octane CH3(CH2)6CH3 C8H18
n-Nonane CH3(CH2)7CH3 C9H20
 Summary
Alkanes are made up of all single C-C bonds
and therefore they are saturated hydrocarbon.
There are 2 classes of alkanes ie :
a) Acyclic alkanes (CnH2n+1 )
b) Cycloalkanes (CnH2n)
Compounds with similar molecular formula but
different order of attachment of atoms are called
constitutional isomer.