Chapter 15: Hydrocarbons Flashcards
Why do alkanes and cycloalkanes not have any polarities?
There is no electronegativity difference between carbon and hydrogen. Many a-time, the symmetrical nature of alkanes like methane also contribute to their lack of bond polarity.
What is the trend of boiling points in an alkane?
The boiling points increase with the size of the molecule.
What is the explanation for the trend in the boiling points of the alkanes.
The attractions between alkane molecules is the Van Der Waals dispersion forces, which will increase as the molecules increase in size.
What is the relationship between isomers of alkanes and their boiling points
The more branched the chain, the lower the boiling point as the dispersion forces are much smaller for shorter molecules. The molecules also cannot come very close to each other due to the excessive branching natures.
Explain the solubility of alkanes
Alkanes can dissolve in water but they cant dissolve in organic solvents.
What is the mechanism behind the solubility of alkanes?
The energy released from the breakage of the hydrogen bonds is water is less than the energy released from breaking of the vander waals forces. The energy release does not compensate.
Why can alkanes dissolve in organic solvents
Organic solvents only have van der waals forces which can easily be compensated for when an energy breaks.
Why is cylcopropane more reactive than the other cycloalkanes?
The 60o bond angle is much smaller than 109.5o which causes a great deal of electron repulsion that make sit much more reactive.
Explain the cis-trans structure of a cyclic hydrocarbon.
Cyclic compounds always have to have a cis stricture in order for everything to join up.
Describe the trend between the combustion of an alkane and their lengths
The longer alkanes are usually harder to ignite than the smaller hydrocarbons due the stronger dispersion forces.
Describe the colour of the flames between the complete combustion and an incomplete combustion.
Complete combustion burns with a blue flame and incomplete combustion burns with a yellow flames and tends to have soot particles.
Describe the reaction of an alkane with fluoride.
It is an explosive reaction that takes place in the cold and dark. And you get hydrogen fluoride.
What are free radicals?
they are atoms or group of atoms that have a single unpaired electron
How do free radicals form?
From a homolytic fission
What happens when methane and chlorine is exposed to a flame?
It explodes producing carbon and hydrogen chloride.
Explain the multiple substitution of halogen free radicals to a given hydrocarbon
The hydrocarbon collides with a halogen free radical and then replaces one of the hydrogen with the free radicals of the halogen. Then eventually, following more collisions, the all of the hydrogens can be removed to form the halogenocarbon
What are aromatic hydrocarbons?
They are the hydrocarbons that have benzene rings.
List out the products in their layers in the fractional distillation of crude oil.
- Refinery gases
- Gasoline
- naphtha
- Kerosene/Paraffin
- Diesel Oil
- Fuel Oil
- Lubricating oil
- Bitumen
What is the catalyst that is used during cracking? What is the other options?
Zeolites (Aluminosilicates)
Others: Aluminium Oxide and Silicon dioxide.
What is reforming?
It is a process that improves the octane rating of a a hydrocarbon and also is a useful source of aromatic compounds.
How does reforming work?
Isomerisation reaction occurs and chain molecules get converted into rings and loses hydrogen.
Explain the conditions and the catalyst that is used in the process of reforming.
Uses a platinum catalyst that is suspended in aluminium oxide. The vapour is passed over the solid catalyst at a temperature of 500 degrees.
How does the zeolite catalyst work?
it has a site that removes a hydrogen that can remove the hydrogen along with the electrons attached to it, resulting in a carbocation.