Question

What are alkenes?

Answer 1

The organic compounds consisting of Carbon $\left(\mathrm{C}\right)$ and Hydrogen $\left(\mathrm{H}\right)$ atoms are known as hydrocarbons.

Hydrocarbons are of two types depending upon the kind of bonds formed between Carbon-Carbon atoms:

• Saturated hydrocarbons
• Unsaturated hydrocarbons

The organic compounds containing Carbon atoms having at least one double bond between two Carbon atoms are called unsaturated hydrocarbons.

Alkenes are unsaturated hydrocarbons that contain double bonds between two Carbon $(\mathrm{C}=\mathrm{C})$ atoms.

The general formula of alkene is $\left({\mathrm{C}}_{\mathrm{n}}{\mathrm{H}}_{2\mathrm{n}}\right)$.

Example: Ethene (${\mathrm{C}}_2{\mathrm{H}}_4$) is an alkene having the structural formula $({\mathrm{CH}}_2={\mathrm{CH}}_2)$.