Question

What is an alkyl group? How is an alkyl group different from its parent alkane?

Answer 1

The Alkyl group is the substituent group on the parent chain of alkane.

The group contains one Hydrogen atom less than the parent alkane. So, this group is known as the alkyl group.

The general formula for alkyl group is ${\mathrm{C}}_{\mathrm{n}}{\mathrm{H}}_{2\mathrm{n}+1}$.

$$\begin{gathered} {\mathrm{C}}_{\mathrm{n}}{\mathrm{H}}_{2\mathrm{n}+2}-\mathrm{H}\to {\mathrm{C}}_{\mathrm{n}}{\mathrm{H}}_{2\mathrm{n}+1} \\ \mathrm{Alkane}\mathrm{alkyl} \end{gathered}$$

The alkyl name is derived from alkane by removing “ane” to “yl”.

$\mathrm{Alkane}-\mathrm{ane}+\mathrm{yl}\to \mathrm{Alkyl}$

For example: When Ethane $\left({\mathrm{C}}_2{\mathrm{H}}_6\right)$ group is converted into an alkyl group

$$\begin{gathered} {\mathrm{C}}_2{\mathrm{H}}_6-\mathrm{H}\to {\mathrm{C}}_2{\mathrm{H}}_5 \\ \mathrm{Ethane}\mathrm{Ethyl} \end{gathered}$$