Alkyne

In organic chemistry, an alkyne is an unsaturated hydrocarbon containing at least one carbon—carbon triple bond between two carbon atoms. The simplest acyclic alkynes with only one triple bond and no other functional groups form a homologous series with the general chemical formula C_nH_2n-2. Alkynes are traditionally known as acetylenes, although the name acetylene also refers specifically to C₂H₂, known formally as ethyne using IUPAC nomenclature. Like other hydrocarbons, alkynes are generally hydrophobic but tend to be more reactive.

Chemical properties

Alkynes are characteristically more unsaturated than alkenes. Thus they add two equivalents of bromine whereas an alkene adds only one equivalent in the reaction. Other reactions are listed below. In some reactions, alkynes are less reactive than alkenes. For example, in a molecule with an -ene and an -yne group, addition occurs preferentially at the -ene. Possible explanations involve the two π-bonds in the alkyne delocalising, which would reduce the energy of the π-system or the stability of the intermediates during the reaction. They show greater tendency to polymerize or oligomerize than alkenes do. The resulting polymers, called polyacetylenes (which do not contain alkyne units) are conjugated and can exhibit semiconducting properties.