Alkanes - Introduction

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Alkanes are saturated hydrocarbons having only single bonds between the carbon atoms of their molecules.

The general formula of alkanes is C_nH_2n+2. Alkanes are called paraffins because of their low reactivity (in Latin paraffin means- less reactivity).

The following table lists the IUPAC names ,formulae and structure of the first five members of the alkane series.

The first member of the alkane series is methane.