Home > Chemistry > Naming Alkanes, Alkenes, and Alkynes

How do alkanes differ from alkenes?

Answer 1

By their #"degree of unsaturation..."#

An alkane is proposed to be fully saturated, i.e. there are maximum number of #C-H# bonds....and alkanes thus have a general formula of #C_nH_(2n+2)#. By contrast, alkenes, olefins, have TWO hydrogens LESS than the saturated formula, i.e. #C_nH_(2n)#..and are said to have ONE degree of unsaturation...

See this old answer for more details. When given an organic formula, assessment of the degree of unsaturation should be the first thing you do. How many rings, how many double bonds, are in the molecule?

With respect to ethane or propane, how many degrees of unsaturation does acetylene have; what about cyclopropene?

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Answer 2

Avery Adams

Alkanes are saturated hydrocarbons with single covalent bonds between carbon atoms, while alkenes are unsaturated hydrocarbons with at least one double bond between carbon atoms.

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Answer from HIX Tutor

When evaluating a one-sided limit, you need to be careful when a quantity is approaching zero since its sign is different depending on which way it is approaching zero from. Let us look at some examples.