Alkene

General FormulaCnH2n, n = 2, 3, 4, ….

Functional Group:

Double Bond

First 3 Members:

Chemical Properties:

MUST Know!

  1. Alkenes are unsaturated hydrocarbons.
  2. Alkenes are a family of hydrocarbons (compounds containing carbon and hydrogen only) containing a carbon-carbon double bond. Therefore, alkenes are unsaturated hydrocarbons.
  3. The general formula for alkene is CnH2n where n = 2, 3, ….
  4. There is no single carbon alkene because it need at least 2 carbon to form the double bond. Hence “methene” doesn’t exist.

Naming Alkene

  1. As alkane, the name of straight-chain alkenes is also made up of two component parts, the stem and the suffix.
  2. We use the same code for the stem, as the alkane.
  3. The suffix for alkene is “ene”.
  4. The table below shows the molecular formula and name of the first six alkenes.
FormulaName
C2H4Ethene
C3H6Propene
C4H8Butene
C5H10Pentene
C6H12Hexene
C7H14Heptene