General physical properties of aliphatic organic compound
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What kinds of compounds are these symbols warning us about? What makes them potentially dangerous?
Some of the most common, flammable and volatile compounds are aliphatic hydrocarbons. Part of this class of compounds is probably somewhat familiar to you. Does the term hydrocarbon ring any bells?
The term hydrocarbon means that the compound is made of--you guessed it--hydrogen and carbon atoms bonded together through the sharing of electrons. Carbon-based compounds are often referred to as organic compounds.
The term aliphatic stems from a Greek word meaning fat or oil. It's thought that some of the first aliphatic compounds discovered came from fats or oil. In our case, aliphatic refers to hydrocarbon compounds that are straight chained, branched or non-aromatic.
Put these two terms together and you have the definition for an aliphatic hydrocarbon - a carbon-based compound that is straight, branched or non-aromatic. An aliphatic compound may be a straight chain made of carbon and hydrogen bonds, like butane, or it may be branched, like isobutane.
structure of butane and isobutane
Notice that in a straight chain, the carbon atoms are never bonded to more than two carbons at a time. Look at butane on the left. How many carbons is the end carbon bonded to? How many carbons are the middle carbons bonded to? In a branched compound, there may be three or four carbons bonded to a single carbon. In isobutane, the outside carbons are only bonded to one carbon each, while the central carbon is bonded to three carbons.
An aliphatic compound may also be non-aromatic, like cyclobutane. A non-aromatic hydrocarbon is cyclic and not of an especially stable nature, or alicyclic. These compounds include cyclopropane, methylcyclohexane, and heptalene.
Hydrocarbons that are cyclic and especially stable are called aromatic hydrocarbons. There's a lot to say about aromatic hydrocarbons, so we've created another video just for them! Check it out if you want more information.
Aliphatic hydrocarbons may contain elements other than hydrogen and carbon. It's not uncommon to have oxygen, nitrogen, sulfur or chlorine atoms present.
An aliphatic hydrocarbon can be either saturated or unsaturated. When saturated, a hydrocarbon contains only single bonds and contains the maximum number of hydrogens. Unsaturated hydrocarbons are the opposite. They may have one or more double bonds and less than the maximum number of hydrogens.
When a hydrocarbon has only single bonds, it is known as an alkane. When there is at least one double bond, then it is known as an alkene. A hydrocarbon that contains at least one triple bond is known as an alkyne. Aliphatic hydrocarbons may be alkanes, alkenes or alkynes.
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