List of Alkane Compounds

There are hundreds of aliphatic alkane compounds in the world and they are widely used for a lot of applications. In petroleum products such as gasoline, diesel and other, there are alkanes compounds. We can list out alkane compounds according to the number of carbon atoms.

Content - physical properties of alkane compounds

Why are there hundreds of alkane compounds?
List of aliphatic Alkane compounds

Why are there hundreds of alkane compounds?

We know, there are isomers for a specific molecular formula. That means, for one molecular formula , there may be several compounds with different physical and chemical characteristics.

As an example, for the molecular formula C4H10, we can identify the following alkane compounds.

n-butane
2-methylbutane

List of aliphatic Alkane compounds

We will arrange the alkane list according to the number of carbon atoms. When the number of carbon atoms is increased, the number of isomers is increased too.

List of aliphatic Alkane compounds with only one Carbon atom

Methane is the only alkane compound which has only one carbon atom found in organic chemistry.

List of aliphatic Alkane compounds with two Carbon atoms

Ethane - Ethane is the only isomer that can be drawn for an alkane which has two numbers of carbon atoms.

List of aliphatic Alkane compounds with three Carbon atoms

Propane - As Ethane, Propane is the only isomer that can be drawn for an alkane which has three numbers of carbon atoms.

List of aliphatic Alkane compounds with four Carbon atoms

n-butane
2-methylpropane

List of aliphatic Alkane compounds with five Carbon atoms

n-pentane
2-methylbutane
2-ethylpropane

List of aliphatic Alkane compounds with six Carbon atoms

n-hexane
2-methylpentane
2,3-dimethylbutane
3-methylpentane
2,4-dimethylbutane

List of aliphatic Alkane compounds with seven Carbon atoms

n-heptane
2-methylhexane
3-methylhexane
2,3-dimethylpentane
2,4-dimethylpentane
3,4-dimethylpentane
2,2-dimethylpentane
2,2,3-trimethylbutane
3-ethylpentane

List of aliphatic Alkane compounds with eight Carbon atoms

n-octane
2-methylheptane
3-methylheptane
4-methylheptane
3-ethylhexane
2,3-dimethylhexane
3,4-Dimethylhexane
2,2-Dimethyl hexane
2,5-Dimethyl hexane.
3,3-Dimethyl hexane
2,2,3-Trimethylpentane
2,2,4-Trimethyl pentane
2,3,3-Trimethylpentane
2,3,4-Trimethyl pentane

By observing the above listing of alkane compounds for alkane compounds, you can understand how many alkane compounds there are in the world. If we consider molecular formula such as C₂₀H₂₂, can you estimate how many alkane compounds for that?

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