1. HYDROCARBONS are compound made up of only the elements carbon and hydrogen. They may be aliphatic or aromatic.

. Hydrocarbons from whichone hydrogen atom has been removed are functional groups, called hydrocarbyls. Aromatic hydrocarbons (arenes), alkanes, alkenes, cycloalkanes and alkyne based compounds are different types of hydrocarbons.

The majority of hydrocarbons found naturally occur in crude oil, where decomposed organic matter provides an abundance of carbon and hydrogen which, when bonded can caternate to form seemingly limitess chains. General Properties Because of differences in molecular structure, the empirical formula remains different between hydrocarbons, in linear, or straight run alkanes, alkenes and alkynes, the amount of bonded hydrogen tessens in alkenes and alkynes due to the self-bonding or catenation of carbon preventing entire saturation of the hydrocarbon by the formation of double or triple bonds. This inherent ability of hydrocarbons to bond to themselves is referred to as catenation, and allows hydrocarbons, to form more complex molecules, such as cyclohexane, and in rarer cases, arenes such as benzene. This ability comes from the fact that bond character between carbon atoms is entirely non polar, in that the distribution of electrons between the two elements is somewhat even due to the same electro-negativity values of the elements (0.30) and does not result in the formation of an electrophile. 2. Alkanes are the simplest hydrogen bons are found in all shapes and sizes and occur widely in nature. They are the major constituents of the natural gas used to heat homes and the gasoline use to fuel automobire new and compex alkanes unknown in nature have also been synth esseed in the laboratory.

Alkanes (also known as paraffins or saturated hydrocarbons) are chemical compounds that consist only of hydrogen and carbon atoms and are bonded exclusively by single bonds (i.e. they are saturated compounds) without any cycles (or loops; ie, cyclic structure). Alkanes belong to a homologous series of organiz compounds in which the member differ by a constant relative molecular mass of 14. They have 2 main commercial sources, crude oid and natural gas. Alkanes alkanes have only c co bonds and no functional group. Ethane CH3CH3 is a simple alkanes. Each carbon atom has 4 bonds (either C-H or C-C bonds), and each hydrogen atom is joined to a carbon atom (H-C bonds). A series of linked carbon atoms is known as the carbon skeleton or carbon backbone. The number of carbon atoms is used to define the size of the alkane (e.g,C2 alkane).