Overview of Alkanes

Alkanes are a form of hydrocarbon where all the hydrocarbons are single bonded.
They are the simplest form of hydrocarbons, and are also considered saturated hydrocarbons due to the presence of single bonds only.
Their general formula is CnH2n+2 where ‘n’ is the number of carbon atoms.

Properties of Alkanes

Alkanes are generally non-polar due to the similar electronegativity of hydrogen and carbon.
They are insoluble in water but soluble in organic solvents.
Alkanes have relatively low reactivity because of the stability of their single bonds and lack of polarity.
As the length of the carbon chain increases, boiling points of alkanes also increase.

Alkanes are named by counting the number of carbon atoms in the longest chain. Prefixes are used to denote the number of carbons (e.g., ‘meth-’ for 1, ‘eth-’ for 2, ‘prop-’ for 3, and so forth).
The prefixes are followed by the suffix ‘-ane’ to show it’s an alkane.
When alkanes have four or more carbon atoms, they can exist in different structural forms, known as isomers. This is because of the flexibility of the C-C single bonds.

Alkanes undergo various types of reactions, including combustion (burning in air or oxygen), substitution reactions, particularly halogenation (replacement of a hydrogen atom by a halogen atom).
Combustion of alkanes is a highly exothermic reaction releasing a large amount of energy, which is why alkanes are often used as fuel.
Alkanes tend to react with halogens in the presence of UV light or high temperature, a type of reaction known as radical substitution.