Developing Fuels: Unorthodox Hydrocarbons

Some Hydrocarbons don’t follow the general formulae.

Hydrocarbons are categorised according to the longest chain available in the compound.

For example:

This Butane that has 5 Carbons, and 12 Hydrogens.

It is still considered a butane, as its longest chain holds four Carbons.

To include the new added Carbon, it is called a Methyl-Butane.

We refer to it as 2 – MethylButane to indicate that the added Carbon branches off the 2^nd carbon in the longest chain.