Question

Write the molecular formula of each alkane. (a) CCCC(C(C)C)C(C)C (b) CC(C)(C)C(C)(C)C (c) CCCC(CCC)C(C)(C)C

Short answer

Answer: The molecular formulas for the given alkanes are: (a) C8H18, (b) C6H14, and (c) C9H20.

Step-by-step solution

Analyze SMILES notation for alkane (a)

We are given the SMILES notation for alkane (a): CCCC(C(C)C)C(C)C. First, we need to count the number of carbon atoms (C) and then find the number of hydrogen atoms (H) in the structure. There are 8 Carbon atoms in this structure. To determine the number of Hydrogen atoms, we remember that the maximum valency of Carbon is 4. So, for every Carbon atom that has less than 4 bonds, we think of valency of a Hydrogen atom to fill the remaining bonds up to a maximum of 4. From the given SMILES representation, we deduce that there are 18 Hydrogen atoms in this alkane.

Write molecular formula for alkane (a)

Now, we can write the molecular formula for alkane (a) as: C8H18

Analyze SMILES notation for alkane (b)

We are given the SMILES notation for alkane (b): CC(C)(C)C(C)(C)C. We will follow the same process to count the number of carbon atoms (C) and hydrogen atoms (H) in the structure. There are 6 Carbon atoms in this structure. To find the number of Hydrogen carbons, we look at each Carbon atom and see that there are 14 Hydrogen atoms in this alkane.

Write molecular formula for alkane (b)

Now, we can write the molecular formula for alkane (b) as: C6H14

Analyze SMILES notation for alkane (c)

We are given the SMILES notation for alkane (c): CCCC(CCC)C(C)(C)C. Again, we count the number of Carbon atoms (C) and Hydrogen atoms (H) in the structure. There are 9 Carbon atoms in this structure and 20 Hydrogen atoms.

Write molecular formula for alkane (c)

Now, we can write the molecular formula for alkane (c) as: C9H20 So, the molecular formulas for the given alkanes are: (a) C8H18 (b) C6H14 (c) C9H20