Alkene

Alkene

In organic chemistry, an alkene is an unsaturated hydrocarbon that contains at least one carbon–carbon double bond. The words alkene and olefin are often used interchangeably (see nomenclature section below). Acyclic alkenes, with only one double bond and no other functional groups, known as mono-enes, form a homologous series of hydrocarbons with the general formula CnH2n. Alkenes have two hydrogen atoms fewer than the corresponding alkane(with the same number of carbon atoms). The simplest alkene, ethylene (C2H4), with the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) name ethene, is the organic compound produced on the largest scale industrially. Aromatic compounds are often drawn as cyclic alkenes, but their structure and properties are different and they are not considered to be alkenes.

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Alkene Structure and Nomenclature:

Alkenes are named in the same way as alkanes. Their names are formed by changing the prefix-ane to ene. For example, an alkene with two carbon atoms is called ethene, and an alkene with three carbon atoms is called propene.

For alkenes composed of four or more carbon atoms, the position of the double bond is specified in the name. This is done by numbering the carbons atoms in the parent chain, starting from the first carbon atom that is closer to carbon with double bond.

Some alkenes contain more than one double bond. The number of double is such Molecules is shown by using a prefix (i.e.,di-,tri-,tera-) before the suffix -ene. As always, The carbon atoms are numbered in such a way that will give the double-bonded carbon the lowest set of number in the name.