Organic Chemistry Flashcards
what is crude oil?
- remains of plankton that was buried in mud and compressed over time
- a mixture of a very large number of compounds which are mainly hydrocarbons
what is a hydrocarbon?
molecules made up of hydrogen and carbon atoms only
what are alkanes?
- simplest form of hydrocarbons
- homologous series (all react similarly)
- all end in -ane
- CnH2n+2 (general formula)
types of alkanes
methane - CH4
ethane - C2H6
propane - C3H8
butane - C4H10
how is crude oil separated?
fractional distillation
how are hydrocarbons in crude oil used?
- processed to produce fuels and feedstock for the petrochemical industry
- fuels eg. petrol, diesel oil, kerosene, heavy fuel oil and liquefied petroleum gases (dependent on these due to our modern lifestyle)
- useful materials are produced
by the petrochemical industry eg. solvents, lubricants,
polymers, detergents (dependent on these due to our modern lifestyle)
how do the different fractions of crude oil happen?
due to the ability of carbon atoms to form families of similar
compounds=wide variety of natural and synthetic carbon compounds
properties of hydrocarbons
shorter hydrocarbons:
- less viscous
- low b.p=more volatile
- more flammable
these all affect how they’re used as fuels, short chain hydrocarbons with low b.p are used as bottled gases (LPGs)
- saturated due to C-C single bond
complete combustion of hydrocarbons
hydrocarbon+oxygen –> carbon dioxide+water (+energy)
- both the caron and hydrogen are oxidised
what is cracking?
breaking down long chain hydrocarbons into smaller hydrocarbons which are more useful as fuels
types of cracking
catalytic - using a catalyst
steam - using steam
how does cracking work?
in a cracker, heavier fractions are heated to high temp to vaporize hydrocarbons
- vapour can be either passed over a hot catalyst or mixed with steam and heated to extremely high temp
products of cracking
shorter alkane
alkene
why is cracking useful?
allows us to meet the high demand of fuels with shorter hydrocarbons
properties of alkenes
- more reactive then alkanes due to being unsaturated (C=C double bond)
- used to make polymers and as starting materials to make other products
- react with bromine water (test of hydrocarbons)
- homologous series
- CnH2n (general formula)
bromine water test
orange bromine water turns colourless when an alkene is added, forming a dibromo-compound
types of alkenes
ethene - C2H4
propene - C3H6
butene - C4H8
pentene - C5H10
(incomplete) combustion of alkenes
alkene+oxygen –> carbon+carbon monoxide+carbon dioxide+water (+energy)
how do alkenes react?
via addition reactions
most of them react similarly due to having the same functional group C=C
how do alkenes react with water/steam?
- when alkenes react steam, water is added across double bond=alcohol formed
eg. ethene+steam then passing over a catalyst=ethanol - done industrially
- after the reaction occurs, reaction mixture is passed from reactor to a condenser because ethanol and water both have higher b.p than ethene so they both condense and any unreacted ethene is recycled back to the reactor
- alcohol is then purified through fractional distillation