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4.1: Prelude to Alkanes

  • Page ID
    79310
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    Although this chapter is concerned with the chemistry of only one class of compounds, saturated hydrocarbons or alkanes, several fundamental principles are developed that we shall use extensively in later chapters. The study of some of these principles has been associated traditionally more with physical chemistry than with organic chemistry. We include them here, at the beginning of out discussion of organic reactions, because they provide a sound basis for understanding the key questions concerning the practical use of organic reactions. Is the equilibrium point of a given reaction far enough toward the desired products to be useful? Can conditions be found in which the reaction will take place at a practical rate? How can unwanted side reactions be suppressed?

    Initially, we will be concerned with the physical properties of alkanes and how these properties can be correlated by the important concept of homology. This will be followed by a brief survey of the occurrence and uses of hydrocarbons, with special reference to the petroleum industry. Chemical reactions of alkanes then will be discussed, with special emphasis on combustion and substitution reactions, These reactions are employed to illustrate how we can predict and use energy changes - particularly \(\Delta H\), the heat evolved or absorbed by a reacting system, which often can be estimated from bond energies. Then we consider some of the problems involved in predicting reaction rates in the context of a specific reaction, the chlorination of methane. The example is complex, but it has the virtue that we are able to break the overall reaction into quite simple steps.

    Before proceeding further, it will be well to reiterate what an alkane is, lest you be confused as to the difference between alkanes and alkenes. Alkanes are compounds of carbon and hydrogen only, without double bonds, triple bonds, or rings. They all conform to the general formula \(\ce{C_nH_{2n+2}}\) and sometimes are called paraffin hydrocarbons, open-chain saturated hydrocarbons, or acyclic hydrocarbons. The nomenclature of alkanes has been discussed in Chapter 3, and you may find it well to review Section 3-1 before proceeding.

    Contributors and Attributions

    John D. Robert and Marjorie C. Caserio (1977) Basic Principles of Organic Chemistry, second edition. W. A. Benjamin, Inc. , Menlo Park, CA. ISBN 0-8053-8329-8. This content is copyrighted under the following conditions, "You are granted permission for individual, educational, research and non-commercial reproduction, distribution, display and performance of this work in any format."


    This page titled 4.1: Prelude to Alkanes is shared under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by John D. Roberts and Marjorie C. Caserio.