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2: Chapter 2 Alkanes

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    178958
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    • 2.1: Functional Groups
      Functional groups are atoms or small groups of atoms (two to four) that exhibit a characteristic reactivity. A particular functional group will almost always display its characteristic chemical behavior when it is present in a compound. Because of their importance in understanding organic chemistry, functional groups have characteristic names that often carry over in the naming of individual compounds incorporating specific groups
    • 2.2: Alkanes and Alkane Isomers
      Alkanes are organic compounds that consist entirely of single-bonded carbon and hydrogen atoms and lack any other functional groups. Alkanes have the general formula CnH2n+2 and can be subdivided into the following three groups: the linear straight-chain alkanes, branched alkanes, and cycloalkanes. Alkanes are also saturated hydrocarbons. Cycloalkanes are cyclic hydrocarbons, meaning that the carbons of the molecule are arranged in the form of a ring.
    • 2.3: Alkyl Groups
      The IUPAC system requires first that we have names for simple unbranched chains, as noted above, and second that we have names for simple alkyl groups that may be attached to the chains. Examples of some common alkyl groups are given in the following table. Note that the "ane" suffix is replaced by "yl" in naming groups. The symbol R is used to designate a generic (unspecified) alkyl group.
    • 2.4: Naming Alkanes
      There are too many organic molecules to memorize a name for each one.  The IUPAC nomenclature system provides an unique name for each different molecule based on functional groups, the longest carbon chain and other attached substituents.
    • 2.5: Naming Cycloalkanes
      Cycloalkanes have one or more rings of carbon atoms, and contain only carbon-hydrogen and carbon-carbon single bonds. The naming of cycloalkanes follows a set of rules similar to that used for naming alkanes.
    • 2.6: The Nature of Chemical Bonds: Molecular Orbital Theory
      Molecular Orbital theory (MO) is a more advanced bonding model than Valence Bond Theory, in which two atomic orbitals overlap to form two molecular orbitals – a bonding MO and an anti-bonding MO.
    • 2.7: sp³ Hybrid Orbitals and the Structure of Methane
      The four identical C-H single bonds in methane form as the result of sigma bond overlap between the sp3 hybrid orbitals of carbon and the s orbital of each hydrogen.
    • 2.8: sp³ Hybrid Orbitals and the Structure of Ethane
      The C-C bond in ethane forms as the result of sigma bond overlap between a sp³ hybrid orbital on each carbon. and the s orbital of each hydrogen. The six identical C-H single bonds in form as the result of sigma bond overlap between the sp³ hybrid orbitals of carbon and the s orbital of each hydrogen.
    • 2.9: sp² Hybrid Orbitals and the Structure of Ethylene
      The C=C bond in ethylene forms as the result of both a sigma bond overlap between a sp2 hybrid orbital on each carbon and a pi bond overlap of a p orbital on each carbon
    • 2.10: sp Hybrid Orbitals and the Structure of Acetylene
      The carbon-carbon triple bond in acetylene forms as the result of one sigma bond overlap between a sp hybrid orbital on each carbon and two pi bond overlaps of p orbitals on each carbon.
    • 2.11: Drawing Chemical Structures
      Kekulé Formulas or structural formulas display the atoms of the molecule in the order they are bonded. Condensed structural formulas show the order of atoms like a structural formula but are written in a single line to save space. Skeleton formulas or Shorthand formulas or line-angle formulas are used to write carbon and hydrogen atoms more efficiently by replacing the letters with lines. Isomers have the same molecular formula, but different structural formulas


    2: Chapter 2 Alkanes is shared under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by LibreTexts.

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