Heptadecane is an
organic compound
In chemistry, organic compounds are generally any chemical compounds that contain carbon-hydrogen or carbon-carbon bonds. Due to carbon's ability to catenate (form chains with other carbon atoms), millions of organic compounds are known. Th ...
, an
alkane
In organic chemistry, an alkane, or paraffin (a historical trivial 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 wh ...
hydrocarbon
In organic chemistry, a hydrocarbon is an organic compound consisting entirely of hydrogen and carbon. Hydrocarbons are examples of group 14 hydrides. Hydrocarbons are generally colourless and hydrophobic, and their odors are usually weak or ...
with the
chemical formula
In chemistry, a chemical formula is a way of presenting information about the chemical proportions of atoms that constitute a particular chemical compound or molecule, using chemical element symbols, numbers, and sometimes also other symbols, ...
C
17H
36. The name may refer to any of 24894 theoretically possible
structural isomer
In chemistry, a structural isomer (or constitutional isomer in the IUPAC nomenclature) of a compound is another compound whose molecule has the same number of atoms of each element, but with logically distinct bonds between them. The term meta ...
s, or to a mixture thereof.
The unbranched isomer is normal or ''n''-heptadecane, CH
3(CH
2)
15CH
3. In the IUPAC nomenclature, the name of this compound is simply heptadecane, since the other isomers are viewed and named as
alkyl
In organic chemistry, an alkyl group is an alkane missing one hydrogen.
The term ''alkyl'' is intentionally unspecific to include many possible substitutions.
An acyclic alkyl has the general formula of . A cycloalkyl is derived from a cycloa ...
-substituted versions of smaller alkanes.
The most compact and branched isomer would be
tetra-''tert''-butylmethane, but its existence is believed to be impossible due to
steric hindrance
Steric effects arise from the spatial arrangement of atoms. When atoms come close together there is a rise in the energy of the molecule. Steric effects are nonbonding interactions that influence the shape ( conformation) and reactivity of ions ...
. Indeed, it is believed to be the smallest "impossible" alkane.
References
External links
List of plant species containing heptadecane Dr. Duke's Phytochemical and Ethnobotanical Databases
* Th
smallest alkanes which cannot be made the goodman group, university of cambridge
{{Alkanes
Alkanes