Alkanes are saturated hydrocarbons that have a linear or branched structure, containing only simple bonds. They include only single bonds between C-C atoms in a molecule, i.e., containing the maximum amount of hydrogen (Ackerman et al., 2018). All alkanes are substances that are similar in physical and chemical properties and differ by one or more groups of -CH2-. Such substances are called homologs, and several substances that are homologs are called homological series. The very first representative of the homologous series of alkanes is methane CH4. Next are Ethane-C2H6, Propane-C3H8, Butane-C4H10, Pentane-C5H12, Hexane-C6H14, Heptane-C7H16, and Octane-C8H18 (Shipman et al., 2016). Since all bonds are saturated to the limit, alkanes are characterized by cracking, cleavage, combustion, and halogenation reactions. Such an alkane as methane is characterized by substitution and oxidation reactions.
Chemicals such as alkanes can most often be found in petroleum products. Methane is formed due to the decomposition of the remains of plant and animal organisms without access to oxygen and is the main component of natural gas. This explains the release of gas bubbles from the bottom of swamps and reservoirs with standing water, called swamp gas. It is also released from coal seams and accumulates in mines, which is also called mine gas. Solid alkanes are part of paraffin, and the presence of carbon and hydrogen in their composition can be easily proved experimentally. Alkanes are also used to make solvents, cosmetics, and asphalt. Gaseous alkanes are used in everyday life and for the production of aerosols.
References
Ackerman, L. K., Martinez Alvarado, J. I., & Doyle, A. G. (2018). Direct C–C bond formation from alkanes using Ni-photoredox catalysis. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 140(43), 14059-14063.
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Finelli, C. (2019). Contribution to molecular nutrition: Carbohydrates. In Molecular Nutrition: Carbohydrates. Academic Press, 91-112.
Shipman, J., Wilson, J., Higgins, C., & & Torres, O. (2016). An Introduction to physical science (14th ed.). Cengage Learning.
Wójcik, W., Łukasiewicz, M., & Puppel, K. (2020). Biogenic amines: Formation, action and toxicity–a review. Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture. Web.