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3: Organic Compounds- Alkanes and Their Stereochemistry

  • Page ID
    482235
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    Learning Objectives

    After you have completed Chapter 3, you should be able to

    1. fulfill the detailed objectives listed under each section.
    2. identify some of the commonest functional groups.
    3. write the structures and names of the first ten straight-chain alkanes.
    4. recognize and name the simple alkyl substituents, and give the systematic names for branched-chain alkanes.
    5. briefly describe some of the processes used during the refining of petroleum.
    6. briefly describe the physical properties of alkanes.
    7. draw a number of possible conformations of some simple alkanes and alkane-like compounds, and represent the energies of such conformations on energy versus rotation diagrams.
    8. define, and use in context, the key terms introduced in this chapter.

    This chapter begins with an introduction to the concept of the functional group, a concept that facilitates the systematic study of organic chemistry. Next, we introduce the fundamentals of organic nomenclature (i.e., the naming of organic chemicals) through examination of the alkane family of compounds. We then discuss, briefly, the occurrence and properties of alkanes, and end with a description of cis-trans isomerism in cycloalkanes.

    • 3.1: Why This Chapter?
    • 3.2: 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
    • 3.3: 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.
    • 3.4: 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.
    • 3.5: 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.
    • 3.6: 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.
    • 3.7: Alkyl Substituents
    • 3.8: Naming Alkenes
      Alkenes contain carbon-carbon double bonds and are unsaturated hydrocarbons with the molecular formula is CnH2n; this is also the same molecular formula as cycloalkanes. For straight chain alkenes, it is the same basic rules as nomenclature of alkanes except change the suffix to "-ene."
    • 3.9: Naming Alkynes
      Alkynes are organic molecules made of the functional group carbon-carbon triple bonds and are written in the empirical formula of CnH2n−2 . They are unsaturated hydrocarbons. Like alkenes have the suffix –ene, alkynes use the ending –yne; this suffix is used when there is only one alkyne in the molecule.
    • 3.10: Alkenes and Alkynes
    • 3.11: Halogens
    • 3.12: Naming Alcohols and Phenols
    • 3.13: Alcohols
    • 3.14: Properties of Alkanes
      Alkanes are not very reactive and have little biological activity; all alkanes are colorless and odorless.
    • 3.15: Chemistry Matters—Gasoline
      The petroleum that is pumped out of the ground at locations around the world is a complex mixture of several thousand organic compounds, including straight-chain alkanes, cycloalkanes, alkenes, and aromatic hydrocarbons with four to several hundred carbon atoms. The identities and relative abundances of the components vary depending on the source.
    • 3.16: Key Terms
    • 3.17: Summary
    • 3.18: Additional Problems


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