CHEM 281 Chapter Notes - Chapter 3: Homologous Series, Isobutane, Chemical Formula
30 Aug 2018
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Chapter 3 notes part 1: an introduction to organic compounds. Alkanes are composed of only carbon atoms and hydrogen atoms and contain only single bonds. Compounds that contain only carbon and hydrogen are called hydrocarbons. Thus, an alkane is a hydrocarbon that has only single bonds. Alkanes in which the carbons form a continuous chain with no branches are called straight-chain alkanes. The names of the four smallest straight-chain alkanes have historical roots, but the others are based on greek numbers. It is important that you learn the names of at least the first 10 straight-chain alkanes in table 3. 1. The family of alkanes shown in the table is an example of a homologous series. A homologous series is a family of compounds in which each member differs from the one before it in the series by one methylene (ch2) group. The members of a homologous series are called homologues.
