Hydrogen bonds and alkanes do not go together
Numerous bonding forces that operate within and between molecules are taught at school. In this context, the hydrogen bond is of particular importance. However, this special type of bond does not form in all molecules. With a little chemical background knowledge, you will easily see why, for example, hydrogen bonds and alkanes do not go together.
Alkanes and hydrogen bonds - two chemical terms explained in more detail
Before you can understand why alkanes don't hydrogen bond, you should take a closer look at the two chemical terms.
- The alkanes are compounds that contain only hydrocarbon and hydrogen atoms. Each carbon atom forms four bonds, whereby it bonds either to other hydrocarbons or to hydrogen. In contrast to the alkenes or alkynes, they are all single bonds.
- The methane forms the smallest possible alkane, which consists of a carbon to which four hydrogen atoms are bonded.
- The hydrogen bond is a type of bond in which strongly electronegative (measure of the effort in to attract binding electrons to a compound) atoms such as oxygen or fluorine have a strong bond partner to themselves draw in. A look at that Periodic table of the elements shows that especially atoms that are far to the right increase in electronegativity (with the exception of the noble gases, of course).
- In the context of the hydrogen bond, the electrons are attracted by the oxygen atoms a negative charge, while the other binding partner - a hydrogen atom - has a partial positive charge receives.
- The hydrogen atom then bonds to another electronegative atom on the other side.
Hydrogen Bonding and Van der Waals Forces - Difference
In chemistry and physics we know different types of attractive interactions ...
No fit between alkanes and hydrogen bonds
- Alkanes do not form hydrogen bonds, since the binding partners within an alkane molecule do not have the properties appropriate for this type of bond.
- Numerous hydrogen atoms are attached around the carbon atom, but the bonding partner carbon does not have a high level of electronegativity. The tendency of carbon to attract a binding electron is therefore comparatively small.
- Because alkanes are not electrically polarized, the formation of hydrogen bonds is not possible. The associated binding partners with a high electronegativity are missing.
- But which binding forces are instead effective within the alkane molecule? These are the Van der Waals forces. These forces come about through mutual influencing of the electrons involved. A short temporary dipole is generated by charge differences, which in turn can induce the dipole moments of neighboring atoms.
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