What are alkanes?

Alkanes are compounds formed exclusively by carbon and hydrogen (hydrocarbons), which only contain simple carbon-carbon bonds.

types of alkanes

Alkanes are classified as linear, branched, cyclic, and polycyclic.

Alkanes nomenclature

Alkanes are named by ending in -ane the prefix that indicates the number of carbons in the molecule (methane, ethane, propane...)

Physical properties of alkanes

The melting and boiling points of alkanes are low and increase as the number of carbons increases due to interactions between molecules by London forces. Linear alkanes have higher boiling points than their branched isomers.

conformational isomers

Alkanes are not rigid due to the spin around the CC bond. The multiple shapes created by these rotations are called conformations.