They are composed of carbon (C) and hydrogen (H) atoms and have a single carbon-carbon (C-C) bond without any double bonds or ring structure. Alkanes are a type of hydrocarbon with the common chemical formula CnH2n+2, where n represents the number of carbon atoms and indicates the number of carbon atoms in the molecule.
Based on their molecular structure, alkanes can be divided into two main groups:
Aliphatic alkanes (straight-chain alkanes): these alkanes have chains of carbon atoms arranged in straight lines. The simplest aliphatic alkane is methane (CH4), which contains only one carbon atom and four hydrogen atoms. Other aliphatic alkanes include ethane (C2H6), propane (C3H8), butane (C4H10), and so on. They are the main components of natural gas and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG).
Cycloalkanes (cyclic alkanes): These alkanes have carbon atoms that form a ring structure. The simplest cycloalkane is cyclopentane (C5H10), which consists of a ring of five carbon atoms. Other cycloalkanes include cyclohexane (C6H12), cyclopropane (C3H6) and others. They have a wide range of applications in the petroleum and chemical industries.
Alkanes are one of the simplest types of hydrocarbons, and they are usually saturated, which means that their molecules have single bonds between all carbon atoms and no unsaturated double bonds. Because of their simple structure, alkanes have a wide range of applications in energy production, the petroleum industry, the chemical industry and fuels.