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Reactivity of Alkanes

Last updated

Jan 23, 2023
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- Index
- Front Matter

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The alkanes and cycloalkanes, with the exception of cyclopropane, are probably the least chemically reactive class of organic compounds. Alkanes contain strong carbon-carbon single bonds and strong carbon-hydrogen bonds. The carbon-hydrogen bonds are only very slightly polar; therefore, there are no portions of the molecules that carry any significant amount of positive or negative charge that can attract other molecules or ions. Alkanes can be burned, destroying the entire molecule (Alkane Heats of Combustion), alkanes can react with some of the halogens, breaking carbon-hydrogen bonds, and alkanes can crack by breaking the carbon-carbon bonds.

Topic hierarchy

Alkane Heats of Combustion
The combustion of carbon compounds, especially hydrocarbons, has been the most important source of heat energy for human civilizations throughout recorded history. The practical importance of this reaction cannot be denied, but the massive and uncontrolled chemical changes that take place in combustion make it difficult to deduce mechanistic paths.
Chlorination of Methane and the Radical Chain Mechanism
Alkanes (the most basic of all organic compounds) undergo very few reactions. One of these reactions is halogenation, or the substitution of a single hydrogen on the alkane for a single halogen to form a haloalkane. This reaction is very important in organic chemistry because it opens a gateway to further chemical reactions.
Complete vs. Incomplete Combustion of Alkanes
This page deals briefly with the combustion of alkanes and cycloalkanes. In fact, there is very little difference between the two.
Cracking Alkanes
This page describes what cracking is, and the differences between catalytic cracking and thermal cracking used in the petrochemical industry.
Halogenation Alkanes
This page describes the reactions between alkanes and cycloalkanes with the halogens fluorine, chlorine, bromine and iodine - mainly concentrating on chlorine and bromine.
Halogenation of Alkanes
Halogenation is the replacement of one or more hydrogen atoms in an organic compound by a halogen (fluorine, chlorine, bromine or iodine). Unlike the complex transformations of combustion, the halogenation of an alkane appears to be a simple substitution reaction in which a C-H bond is broken and a new C-X bond is formed.

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