Why is a single bond saturated?

1 Answer
anor277
Oct 3, 2016

#"Saturation"# is a bit of an old-fashioned term, that is still widely used.

Explanation:

A carbon is said to be #"saturated"# if it possesses the MAXIMUM number of #C-H# bonds. #"Ethane"#, #C_2H_6#, is saturated. #"Ethylene"#, #C_2H_4#, is unsaturated; #"acetylene"#, #H-C-=C-H#, is also unsaturated.

Formally, we say that #"ethylene"# and #"acetylene"# possess #1^@# and #2^@# of unsaturation respectively, i.e. each degree (each double bond or ring junction) represents 2 hydrogens LESS than the saturated molecule.

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