Question

What is the condensed structural formula for the compound 3-hexene?

Answer 1

The condensed structural formula for hex-3-ene is `"CH"_3"CH"_2"CH=CHCH"_2"CH"_3`.

The stem name –hex- tells us that we have a chain of six carbon atoms.

`"C-C-C-C-C-C"`

The -ene tells us that we have a `"C=C"` double bond and the -3- tells us that it is between C-3 and C-4.

`"C-C-C=C-C-C"`

Since there are no other substituents, we fill up the unused valences of `"C"` with hydrogen atoms to get a condensed structural formula.

`"CH"_3"-CH"_2"-CH=CH-CH"_2"-CH"_3`

Single bonds are often omitted in condensed structural formulas, so another acceptable answer would be

`"CH"_3"CH"_2"CH=CHCH"_2"CH"_3`