What are alkenes and alkynes?

1 Answer
anor277
Aug 8, 2016

Alkenes and alkynes are unsaturated organic molecules.

Explanation:

A saturated hydrocarbon has a formula of C_nH_(2n+2). Each "2 hydrogens" less than this formula corresponds to a degree of unsaturation. A degree of unsaturation corresponds to a double bond (i.e. C=X) or a ring junction. Alkenes have 1^@ degree of unsaturation with respect to the corresponding alkane; and alkynes have 2^@ of unsaturation (because they have a triple bond).

And in summary, consider the general formulae:

C_nH_(2n+2) "alkanes"

C_nH_(2n) "alkenes"

C_nH_(n) "alkynes".

Related questions
See all questions in Introduction to Reactions and Mechanisms
Impact of this question
2587 views around the world
You can reuse this answer
Creative Commons License