Question

What is the meaning of the statement that alkanes are hydrophobic?

Answer 1

In organic chemistry, an alkane, or paraffin (a historical name that also has other meanings), is an acyclic saturated hydrocarbon. In other words, an alkane consists of hydrogen and carbon atoms arranged in a tree structure in which all the carbon-carbon bonds are single.[1] Alkanes have the general chemical formula CnH2n+2. For example, the case of n = 1 is CH4, which is methane. Besides this standard definition by the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry, in some authors' usage the term alkane is applied to any saturated hydrocarbon, including those that are either monocyclic (i.e., the cycloalkanes) or polycyclic.[2]