Alkanes Structure & Formula
- Alkanes are a group of saturated hydrocarbons
- The term saturated means that they only have single carbon-carbon bonds, there are no double bonds
- The general formula of the alkanes is CnH2n+2
- They are colourless compounds which have a gradual change in their physical properties as the number of carbon atoms in the chain increases
- Alkanes are generally unreactive compounds but they do undergo combustion reactions, can be cracked into smaller more useful molecules
- Methane is an alkane and is the major component of natural gas
Table of alkanes
Displayed formula | Name | Molecular formula |
methane | CH4 | |
ethane | C2H6 | |
propane | C3H8 | |
butane | C4H10 | |
pentane | C5H12 |
The first five members of the alkane homologous series