Why are alkenes unsaturated?

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Why are alkenes unsaturated?

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Answer 1 · 2016-03-24T13:44:26

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

Explanation:

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

Compare Ethene: $H_{2} - C = C - H_{2}$ $H_2-C=C-H_2$

With Ethane: $H_{3} - C - C - H_{3}$ $H_3-C-C-H_3$

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

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Why are alkenes unsaturated?

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