Hydrocarbons are a class of organic compounds formed solely from carbon and hydrogen. They are broadly classified into two groups – aliphatic and aromatic. The term aliphatic hydrocarbon refers to compounds which may be saturated (i.e. alkanes or paraffins having no double or triple bonds with formula C n H2n + 2), or unsaturated (alkanes having one or more double bonds with formulae C n H 2n , C n H2n − 2, etc., or alkynes having one or more triple bonds with formulae C n H2n − 2, C n H2n − 6, etc.), straight-chain (designated n-), branched, or contain ring systems (alicyclic or ‘naphthenes’). The term olefin is sometimes used to include alkenes, cycloalkenes and hydrocarbons containing more than one double bond. Hydrocarbons occur in a wide variety of structural forms each of which can have dramatically different physical properties and chemical reactivities. The simplest naturally occurring hydrocarbon is the gas methane (CH4;bp – 164°C) which is a saturated alkane and the main...
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Cross-references
Clay membrances; Laboratory simulations of oil and natural gas formation; Natural gas; Oil seeps and coastal bitumens; Oil shales; Oil–oil and oil–source rock correlation; Petroleum; Petroleum: hydrothermal; Petroleum: in-reservoir biodegradation; Petroleum: kinetic modeling; Petroleum: primary migration; Petroleum: surface geochemistry; Petroleum: types, occurrence and reserves; Sulfate reduction
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Volkman, J.K. (1998). Hydrocarbons . In: Geochemistry. Encyclopedia of Earth Science. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/1-4020-4496-8_158
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