Carbon is unique among the elements of the periodic table because of the ability of its atoms to form strong bonds with one another while still having one or more valences left over to link to other atoms. The strength of the carbon-carbon bond permits long chains to form:
Image:General Hydrocarbon Structure.jpg
This behavior is referred to as catenation. Such a chain contains numerous sites to which other atoms (or more carbon atoms) can bond, leading to a great variety of carbon compounds, or organic compounds. The hydrocarbons contain only hydrogen and carbon. They provide the simplest examples of how catenation, combined with carbon’s valence of 4, gives rise to a tremendous variety of molecular structures, even with only two elements involved. Single bonded hydrocarbons are called alkanes. A example of an alkane is butane:
Butane
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These hydrocarbons can be in straight chains of varying length, or they can branch out, with one carbon bonded to three or four other carbons. This allows for isomers, such as iso-butane, a branched hydrocarbon:
Isobutane
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Hydrocarbons can also form ring structures, which are referred to as cycloalkanes. An example is cyclohexane:
Cyclohexane
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