Classification of Hydrocarbons

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INTRODUCTION Hydrocarbons are organic compounds that contain only carbon atoms and hydrogen atoms. Examples of hydrocarbons include fossil fuels, such as gasoline and natural gas. Hydrocarbon from which one Hydrogen atom has been removed are functional groups called Carbonyls. The majority of hydrocarbons found on earth naturally occur in crude oil where decomposed organic matter provides an abundance of carbon and hydrogen which, when bonded can catenate to form seemingly limitless chains. CLASSIFICATION There are millions of organic compounds and this makes it physically impossible to study individual compound. To facilitate their study, hydrocarbons are classified into two which are Alphatic and Aromatic groups. 1.0 Alphatic Group 1.1 Alkanes The simplest hydrocarbons are alkanes. They contain only single covalent bonds. Organic compounds that contain only single bonds, with no double or triple bonds between carbon atoms are said to be saturated hydrocarbons. They are saturated because each carbon atom is bonded to as many other atoms as possible. Each carbon atom in the chain has a minimum of two hydrogen atoms bonded to it. As well, the two carbon atoms at the ends of the chain are bonded to an additional hydrogen atom. If n represents the number of carbon atoms, then the general formula for all straight or branched chain alkanes is CnH2n + 2. Any set of organic compounds in which each member differs from the next by a –CH2– group is called a homologous series. Since all alkanes fit this pattern, all alkanes form a homologous series. Saturated hydrocarbons on the basis of petroleum fuels are found as either linear or branched species. Those with the same molecular formula but different structural formula are called structural isomers. The IUPAC name of any organic compound has three basic parts: a root, a prefix, and a suffix. • The root denotes

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