http://www.ck12.org Chapter 25. Organic Chemistry
FIGURE 25.3
Hybridization of the valence orbitals in a
carbon atom to make a set of three sp^2
orbitals, with one p orbital left over.atom is also bonded to one other atom via the other hybrid orbital. The angle between these two bonds for an sp
hybridized carbon is 180°.
FIGURE 25.4
Hybridization of the valence orbitals in a
carbon atom to make a set of two sp
orbitals, with two p orbitals left over.Hydrocarbon Structure and Naming
Hydrocarbonsare molecules that contain only carbon and hydrogen atoms. Because each carbon atom can form
covalent bonds with up to four other atoms, very large and complex molecules can be formed just from these two
elements. Hydrocarbons in which all carbons are connected by single bonds are known asalkanes. If a C=C double
bond is present, the compound is now analkene. A triple bond between two carbons (C≡C) makes the compound
analkyne. Hydrocarbons can also be broadly classified as eithersaturated, which means they contain no multiple
bonds, orunsaturated, which means they contain at least one double or triple bond.
The simplest alkanes are linear chains of carbon atoms, in which no carbon is bonded to more than two other carbon
atoms. Branched alkanes are also possible, greatly increasing the complexity of possible structures that can be
formed from a given set of carbon and hydrogen atoms. The first six linear alkanes are listed in theTable25.1.