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.

Related questions
See all questions in Covalent Bonds
Impact of this question
2129 views around the world
You can reuse this answer
Creative Commons License