Write short notes on saturated and Unsaturated hydrocarbons

A saturated hydrocarbon may be defined as follows:

The hydrocarbons in which all the four valences of carbon are fully satisfied are called saturated hydrocarbons.  In other words, the hydrocarbons in which all carbon atoms are bonded to each other by single covalent bonds are called saturated hydrocarbons.  In IUPAC system, saturated hydrocarbons are known as alkanes. Thus, alkanes are the hydrocarbons in which all carbon atoms are bonded to each other by a single covalent bonds.

Unsaturated hydrocarbons

An unsaturated hydrocarbon may be defined as follows:

A hydrocarbon in which two carbon atoms are bonded to each other by a double (=) or a triple (≡) bond is called an unsaturated hydrocarbon.

Examples: typical unsaturated hydrocarbons are,

H₂C = CH₂ HC ≡ CH

hydrocarbons are of two types.

(i) Hydrocarbons containing a double (=) bond. These are called alkenes.

(ii) Hydrocarbons containing a triple (≡) bond. These are called alkynes.