Number of carbon atoms

The lower members of the series are liquids soluble in water and volatile in steam. As the number of carbon atoms in the molecule increases, the m.p. and b.p. rise and the acids become less soluble in water and less volatile. The higher fatty acids are solids, insoluble in water and soluble in organic solvents. 

The fatty acids occur in nature chiefly as glycerides see fats), which constitute the most important part of the fats and oils, and as esters of other alcohols, the waxes. The naturally occurring fatty acids are mostly the normal straight-chain acids with an even number of carbon atoms. 

Figure 1.1 illustrates the diversity of products derived from petroleum classified according to their distillation ranges and number of carbon atoms. From one crude to another, the proportions of the recovered fractions vary widely. A good illustration is the gasoline fraction (one of the most economically attractive) a crude from Qatar gives about 37 per cent by volume whereas a Boscan crude oil only yields 4.5%. 

Crude oils are mixtures of pure components, but these are extremely numerous and the difficulty to describe the different fractions increases with the number of carbon atoms. 

Their boiling points increase with the number of carbon atoms. For molecules of low carbon numbers, the addition of a carbon increases the boiling point about 25°C. Further additions result in a smaller increase. The density increases with the molecular weight 0.626 kg/1 for pentane which has 5 atoms of carbon, 0.791 kg/1 for pentacosane which has 25 carbon atoms, but the density is always much lower than 1. 

Branching can take place at different locations in the chain, giving the possibility of, for equal numbers of carbon atoms, different molecules called isomers. 

Isoparaffins have boiling points lower than normal paraffins witTilHe same number of carbon atoms. Table 1.1 presents some physical properties of selected paraffins... 

These hydrocarbons contain cyclic (or ring) structures in all or part of the skeleton. The number of carbon atoms in the ring thus formed can vary. Refer to Table 1.2. 

It is based on the observations that the specific gravities of hydrocarbons are related to their H/C ratios (and thus to their chemical character) and that their boiling points are linked to the number of carbon atoms in their molecules. 

Range, °C Number of carbon atoms Reference Number of chemical families... 

Knowledge of their qu nt ty tjieir distribution by number of carbon atoms is Indispensable for the evaluation of low temperature behavior of diesel motor fuels as well as the production and transport characteristics of paraffinic crudes. 

Because of the existence of numerous isomers, hydrocarbon mixtures having a large number of carbon atoms can not be easily analyzed in detail. It is common practice either to group the constituents around key components that have large concentrations and whose properties are representative, or to use the concept of petroleum fractions. It is obvious that the grouping around a component or in a fraction can only be done if their chemical natures are similar. It should be kept in mind that the accuracy will be diminished when estimating certain properties particularly sensitive to molecular structure such as octane number or crystallization point. 

The solubility of hydrocarbon liquids from the same chemical family diminishes as the molecular weight increases. This effect is particularly sensitive thus in the paraffin series, the solubility expressed in mole fraction is divided by a factor of about five when the number of carbon atoms is increased by one. The result is that heavy paraffin solubilities are extremely small. The polynuclear aromatics have high solubilities in water which makes it difficult to eliminate them by steam stripping. 

With regards to the overall balance of combustion, the chemical structure of the motor or heating fuel, e.g., the number of carbon atoms in tbe chain and the nature of the bonding, does not play a direct role the only important item is the overall composition, that is, the contents of carbon, hydrogen, and — eventually— oxygen in the case of alcohols or ethers added to the fuel. 

These first components of the autocorrelation coefficient of the seven physicochemical properties were put together with the other 15 descriptors, providing 22 descriptors. Pairwise correlation analysis was then performed a descriptor was eliminated if the correlation coefficient was equal or higher than 0.90, and four descriptors (molecular weight, the number of carbon atoms, and the first component of the 2D autocorrelation coefficient for the atomic polarizability and n-charge) were removed. This left 18 descriptors. 

Aliphatic hydrocarbons can be prepared by the reduction of the readily accessible ketones with amalgamated zinc and concentrated hydrochloric acid (Clemmensen method of reduction). This procedure is particularly valuable for the prep>aration of hydrocarbons wdth an odd number of carbon atoms where the Wurtz reaction cannot be applied with the higher hydrocarbons some secondary alcohol is produced, which must be removed by repeated distillation from sodium. 

The conversion of a carbonyl compound by ammonium polysulphide solution into an amide with the same number of carbon atoms is known as the Willgerodt reaction. The procedure has been improved by the addition of about 40 per cent, of dioxan or of pyridine to increase the mutual solubility of the ketone and aqueous ammonium polysulphide the requisite temperature is lowered to about and the yield is generally better. 

Polyamides from diamines and dibasic acids. The polyamides formed from abphatic diamines (ethylene- to decamethylene-diamine) and abphatic dibasic acids (oxabc to sebacic acid) possess the unusual property of forming strong fibres. By suitable treatment, the fibres may be obtained quite elastic and tough, and retain a high wet strength. These prpperties render them important from the commercial point of view polyamides of this type are cabed nylons The Nylon of commerce (a 66 Nylon, named after number of carbon atoms in the two components) is prepared by heating adipic acid and hexamethylenediamine in an autoclave ... 

The 66 polymer refers to the number of carbon atoms in each of the components. I.C.I. Maranyl Nylon Compound A100 may be used. 

The effect of a halogen atom or of phenyl is analogous to an increase in ie number of carbon atoms. 

The simple sugars or monosaccharides are polyhydroxy aldehydes or ketones, and belong to Solubility Group II. They are termed tetroses, pentoses, hexoses. etc. according to the number of carbon atoms in the long chain constituting the molecule, and aldoses or ketoses if they are aldehydes or ketones. Most of the monosaccharides that occur in nature are pentoses and hexoses. 

On nonpolar columns, the compounds of a homologous series separate as a function of their boiling points, and linear relationships have been established between the logarithms of the retention volumes and the number of carbon atoms in the 2-, 4-, and 5-positions (see Fig. III-l). 

Table 2 1 presents the number of possible alkane isomers as a function of the num ber of carbon atoms they contain As the table shows the number of isomers increases enormously with the number of carbon atoms and raises two important questions... 

The lUPAC rules assign names to unbranched alkanes as shown m Table 2 2 Methane ethane propane and butane are retained for CH4 CH3CH3 CH3CH2CH3 and CH3CH2CH2CH3 respectively Thereafter the number of carbon atoms m the chain is specified by a Latin or Greek prefix preceding the suffix ane which identifies the com pound as a member of the alkane family Notice that the prefix n is not part of the lUPAC system The lUPAC name for CH3CH2CH2CH3 is butane not n butane... 

---