Saturated & Unsaturated Hydrocarbons
Chemistry: IB Diploma Higher Level, topic 3.6.3
Saturated & Unsaturated Hydrocarbons
Hydrocarbons are organic compounds that contain carbon and hydrogen only. Hydrocarbons can be saturated or unsaturated.
Saturated hydrocarbons
- Saturated hydrocarbons have the maximum number of hydrogen atoms with all carbon-carbon bonds being single bonds (no π-bonds).
- Alkanes (CnH2n+2) are saturated hydrocarbons.
Unsaturated hydrocarbons
- Unsaturated hydrocarbons do not contain the maximum number of hydrogen atoms.
- Non-cyclic unsaturated hydrocarbons contain at least one ℼ-bond (either carbon-carbon double or triple bond).
- Alkenes (CnH2n) are unsaturated hydrocarbons.
Test yourself on Saturated & Unsaturated Hydrocarbons
Which of these statements is NOT correct?