Question

Which of the following belongs to the family of saturated hydrocarbons?

• A. Ethyne
• B. Butane
• C. Propene
• D. Pentene

Answer 1

The correct option is B Butane

The nomenclature for hydrocarbons is done as: Word root + Primary suffix. The primary suffix for various hydrocarbons are given in the table below:

$\begin{array}{cc}\text{Hydrocarbon}& \text{Primary suffix}\\ \text{Alkane}& \text{ane}\\ \text{Alkene}& \text{ene}\\ \text{Alkyne}& \text{yne}\end{array}$

Alkanes are called saturated hydrocarbons. The primary suffix used for alkane is ‘ane’.
Among the given options, only option (b) (Butane) has the primary suffix as ’ane’. Therefore, butane belongs to the family of saturated hydrocarbons.