ORGANIC CHEMISTRY

Alkanes
 Most hydrocarbons in crude oil are alkanes
 The general formula for an alkane is CnH2n+2
 First four members are: Methane, Ethane, Propane and Butane
 NO CARBON-CARBON double bonds all the atoms have formed bonds
with as many other atoms as they can ie they are SATURATED
PROPERTIES OF HYDROCARBONS
 The shorter the chain the less viscous it is
 The shorter the molecule the lower the boiling point
 The shorter the molecule the lower the temperature at which they
vaporise or condense
 The shorter the molecule the more flammable it is
COMBUSTION OF HYDROCARBONS
 Energy is released
 The carbon and hydrogen react with oxygen from the air to form carbon
dioxide and water vapour (they are oxidised)
 When there’s a lot of oxygen and all the carbon atoms are completely
oxidised this is called complete combustion this is the equation
o Hydrocarbon + oxygen = carbon dioxide + water vapour
Writing equations for combustions
 Put the molecular formula of your fuel and O2 for oxygen on the left and
CO2 and H20 on the right for carbon dioxide and water AND THEN
BALANCE IT

FRACTIONAL DISTILLATION AND PETROCHEMICALS

 The many hydrocarbons in crude oil may be separated into fractions
each of which contains molecules with a similar number of carbon
atoms, by fractional distillation
 The crude oil is pumped into a fractioning column which has a
temperature gradient running through it – it is hottest at the bottom
and coldest at the top
  The fractions can be processed to produce fuels and feedstock for the
petrochemical industry
 The crude oil is first heated so that it evaporates (turns into a gas) and is
then piped in at the bottom of the column.
 The gas rises up the column and gradually cools.
 Different compounds in the mixture have different boiling points, so
they condense (turn back into a liquid) at different temperatures. This
means they condense at different levels in the fractionating column.
 Hydrocarbons that have a similar number of carbon atoms have similar
boiling points, so they condense at similar levels in the column.
 The groups of hydrocarbons that condense together are called fractions.
The various fractions are constantly tapped off from the column at the
different levels where they condense.

USES OF CRUDE OIL

 Fractions of crude oil can be processed to provide the fuel for most
modern transport, diesel oil, petrol, kerosene , heavy fuel oil and LPG
are used to fuel vehicles
 The volatility helps decide what the fraction is used for.
o The LPG fraction has the lowest boiling point — in fact it’s a gas at
room temperature. This makes it ideal for using as bottled gas. It’s
stored under pressure as liquid in ’bottles’. When the tap on the
bottle is opened, the fuel vaporises and flows to the burner where
it’s ignited. 

o The petrol fraction has a higher boiling point. Petrol is a liquid at
room temperature, which is ideal for storing in the fuel tank of a
car. It can flow to the engine where it’s easily vaporised to mix
with the air before it is ignited.
o The viscosity also helps decide how the hydrocarbons are used.
o The really gloopy, viscous hydrocarbons are used for lubricating
engine parts or for covering roads.
 The petrochemical industry uses some of the hydrocarbons from crude
oil as a feedstock to make new compounds for use in things like
polymers, solvents, lubricants, and detergents.
 All the products you get from crude oil are examples of organic
compounds (compounds containing carbon atoms). The reason you get
such a large variety of products is because carbon atoms can bond
 together to form different groups called homologous series. These
groups contain similar compounds that all have the same general
formula and many properties in common. Alkanes, alkenes, as well as
other families such as alcohols and carboxylic acids, are all examples of
different homologous series.

CRACKING
 Hydrocarbons can be broken down (cracked) to produce smaller, more
useful molecules.
 Cracking is a thermal decomposition reaction — breaking molecules
down by heating them
 Cracking can be done by various methods including catalytic cracking
and steam cracking

Catalytic cracking
 heat the long-chain hydrocarbons to vaporise them
 the vapour is then passed over a hot, powdered catalyst. Aluminium
oxide is one of the catalysts used
 The long-chain molecules split apart or ‘crack’ on the surface of the
specks of catalyst

Steam cracking
 heat the long-chain hydrocarbons to vaporise them
 the vapour can be mixed with steam
 and heated to a very high
temperature
 This will also lead to thermal decomposition of long-chain hydrocarbon
molecules to form smaller ones.

 Most of the products of cracking are alkanes and unsaturated

hydrocarbons called alkenes

ALKENES
 Alkenes are more reactive than alkanes and react with bromine water, which is used
as a test for alkenes.
o When orange bromine water is added to an alkane, no reaction will
 happen and it’ll stay bright orange. If it’s added to an alkene, a reaction
occurs and the bromine water is decolourised.
 All alkenes have a double covalent bond between two of the carbon atoms in
their chain. Alkenes are known as unsaturated because they contain two fewer
hydrogen atoms than the alkane with the same number of carbon atoms.
 The C=C double bond can open up to become a single bond, allowing the two
carbon atoms to bond with other atoms. This makes alkenes more reactive than
alkanes
 The first four alkenes are ethene (with two carbon atoms), propene (three
carbon atoms), butene (four carbon atoms) and pentene (five carbon atoms)
 All alkenes have the general formula CnH2n
