Question

Explain greater stability of propylene as compared to ethylene ?

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Answer 1

• The propene and Ethane have same number of hydrogen atoms but propene is having double bond and Ethane is having single bond. Double bonds are also electron rich which makes them more reactive. So propene having double bond is more stable than Ethane.

Answer 2

Propylene is more stable than ethylene because of the three alpha hydrogens present in it.

• The formula of propylene(propene) and ethylene(ethene) is $C_{3}H_{6}$ and $C_{2}H_{4}$ respectively.
• Propene contains three alpha hydrogens that take part in hyperconjugation and give three hyper conjugative structures.
• Whereas ethene has no alpha hydrogen so, it can not take part in hyperconjugation.
• The number of hyperconjugative structures in propene are three and zero in ethene.
• Thus, propene is more stable than ethene.