1.2 Hydrocarbons and Alcohols

LEARNING GOALS

After   Chapter 1.2,    you will    be  able    to:

Predict the structure   of  a   hydrocarbon or  alcohol molecule    when    given   a   simple  molecular

formula,    such    as  C 9 H 2 O,

Differentiate   between geminal and vicinal diols

Recall  common  names   of  key compounds,  such    as  2-propanol

Apply   priority    rules   when    naming  molecules   with    multiple    functional  groups, such    as:

Hydrocarbons are compounds that contain only carbon and hydrogen atoms. Alcohols, on the other
hand, contain at least one –OH group, which lends them additional reactivity. In this section, we’ll
explore the naming of hydrocarbons and alcohols.

ALKANES

Alkanes are simple hydrocarbon molecules with the formula CnH(2n + 2). The names for the first four
of these compounds are methane (one carbon), ethane (two carbons), propane (three carbons), and
butane (four carbons). Alkanes with more than four carbons have a simpler naming pattern in which
the name is the Greek root describing the number of carbons followed by –ane. These Greek roots
from 5 to 12 are: pent–, hex–, hept–, oct–, non–, dec–, undec–, and dodec–. Some examples of
alkanes are shown in Table 1.1.

Number  of  Carbons Name Structure

1 methane