Beyond the Basics Naming Organic Carbon Chains

Beyond the Basics Naming Organic Carbon Chains 

One of the most common molecules studied in organic chemistry is the hydrocarbon. Hydrocarbons are compounds composed of carbon and hydrogen. The simplest of the hydrocarbons fall into the category of alkanes. Alkanes are chains of carbon molecules connected by single covalent bonds. Chapter 5 describes how single covalent bonds result when atoms share pairs of valence electrons. Because a carbon atom has four valence electrons, it s eager to donate those valence electrons to covalent bonds so it can receive four donated electrons in turn, filling carbon s valence shell. In other words, carbon really likes to form four bonds. 

In alkanes, each of these four is a single bond with a different pcirtner. 

As the name hydrocarbon suggests, these partners may be hydrogen or carbon. The simplest of the alkanes, called continuous or straight-chain alkanes, consist of one straight chain of carbon atoms linked with single bonds. Hydrogen atoms fill all the remaining bonds. 

Other types of alkanes include closed circles and branched chains, but we discuss the straight-chain alkanes here because they make clecir the basic strategy for naming hydrocarbons. From the standpoint of nciming, the hydrogen atoms in a hydrocarbon are more or less filler atoms. Alkanes names cire based on the largest number of consecutively bonded carbon atoms, so the ncime of a hydrocarbon tells you about that molecule s structure. 

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