Why are alkenes unsaturated?

1 Answer
Mar 24, 2016

We call an organic compound saturated if all available valence bonds of the C's are bonded to H (or other functional groups)

Explanation:

An alkene has a double bond, which means that two of the available bonds are used to bind two C's. This bond can be opened (under the right circumstances) to allow two more H's into the compound.

Compare Ethene: H_2-C=C-H_2

With Ethane:H_3-C-C-H_3

Ethane has all the H's it can take, and is thus called "saturated"