Question

What is the difference between Alcohols and haloalkanes.

Answer 1

Alkanes are molecules made of carbon and hydrogen atoms. The carbons in an alkane are linked to each other with a single bond. Carbon atoms can make up to four single bonds, so, for example, a carbon atom in an alkane containing three carbons is bonded to a carbon atom on each side (forming a short, three carbon chain), two hydrogen atoms take the two left-over single bond positions on the center carbon, and six more hydrogens take the remaining single bond positions on the flanking carbons. The shortest alkane is methane, which contains only one carbon with all four single bond positions taken by hydrogen atoms. Alcohols can be alkanes, in terms of base structure, except that a hydroxyl group is attached to one or more of the carbons in the chain.