Alkanes area class of HYDROCARBONS which contain only carbon and hydrogen. Two other terms which describe alkanes are saturated and paraffins. SATURATED alkanes means that each carbon is bonded to four other atoms through single covalent bonds. Hydrogen atoms usually occupy all available bonding positions after the carbons have bonded to each other. PARAFFINS which is derived from a Latin word meaning "little activity", and means that the compounds are very unreactive. The example compounds of ethane and pentane are shown on the LEFT.

Alkanes are the principle compounds found fossil fuels such as natural gas and oil, which is further refined into gasoline. These compounds thus provide a large share of the energy and are also the raw materials for much of the synthetic compounds of various materials, fibers, drugs, plastic, and many other compounds used in modern society.

Properties
Structure	Physical Properties	Chemical Reactivity
CnH2n+2 Example: CH3CH3	Boiling points depend on chain length. Non polar Insoluble in water	No functional groups, saturated, and class name of paraffins which means - Unreactive to other chemicals. All compounds: Combustion Reaction

ROOT ALKANE NAMES Root names give the number of carbons in the longest continuous chain. Root names are used with various "endings" to indicate branches, type of bonds between carbons, and functional groups. The following list gives the most basic root the with normal hydrocarbon alkane endings for the number of carbons in the longest continuous chain. Memorize this list. Example: root = "eth" + alkane ending = "ane" = ethane
No. of Carbons	Root Name	Formula CnH2n+2	Structure
1	methane	CH4	CH4
2	ethane	C2H6	CH3CH3
3	propane	C3H8	CH3CH2CH3
4	butane	C4H10	CH3CH2CH2CH3
5	pentane	C5H12	CH3CH2CH2CH2CH3
6	hexane	C6H14	CH3CH2CH2CH2CH2CH3
7	heptane	C7H16	CH3CH2CH2CH2CH2CH2CH3
8	octane	C8H18	CH3CH2CH2CH2CH2CH2CH2CH3
9	nonane	C9H20	CH3CH2CH2CH2CH2CH2CH2CH2CH3
10	decane	C10H22	CH3CH2CH2CH2CH2CH2CH2CH2CH2CH3