Alkanes

Alkanesare the simplest organic compounds consist of only hydrogen and carbon bonded with only single bonds between carbon atoms. The general chemical formula of alkanes is calculated by CnH2n+2. Alkanes are also called as saturated hydrocarbon which includes monocyclic or polycylic molecule.

Types of Alkanes and Examples

There are three types of chemical structure of alkanes known such as linear, branched, and cyclic alkanes.

Linear alkanesshould have the carbons bonded together in a chain-like structure, which is similar to a snake or rope. The following are some examples for linear alkanes.

Branched alkanescan form linear alkanes but instead of having just a straight chain in their chemical structure, and branched with one or more alkyl groups. Analkyl groupis a group of carbon and hydrogen atoms attached to an alkane molecule.

The following are some examples for branched alkanes.

Here we can see that the alkane chain has branches of alkyl groups (methyl group).

Cyclic alkanesor cycloalkanes contain the hydrogen and carbon atoms bonded together with single bonds, where the carbon atoms bond together to form a ring or loop.