Alkane

Alkane
An alkane in organic chemistry is a type of hydrocarbon in which the molecule has the maximum possible number of hydrogen atoms and so has no double bonds (they are saturated).
The general formula for acyclic/linear alkanes, also known as aliphatic hydrocarbons is CnH2n+2; the simplest possible alkane is methane (CH4). The next in the series is ethane (C2H6) and the series continues with larger and larger molecules. Each C atom is hybridized sp3. The series of alkanes is often 
Properties
Arrangements
The atoms in alkanes with more than three carbon atoms can be arranged in multiple ways, forming different isomers. "Normal" alkanes have the most linear, unbranched configuration, and are denoted with an n. The number of isomers increases rapidly with the number of carbon atoms; for acyclic alkanes with n = 1..12 carbon atoms, the number of isomers equals 1, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 9, 18, 35, 75, 159, 355 .
The names of all alkanes end with -ane. The alkanes, and their derivatives, with four or fewer carbons have non-systematic common names, established by long precedence. For a more complete list, see List of alkanes.
methane CH4
ethane C2H6
propane C3H8
n-butane C4H10
n-pentane C5H12
n-hexane C6H14
n-heptane C7H16
n-octane C8H18

Branched alkanes have some non-systematic (or "trivial") names in common use, but there is also a systematic way of naming most such compounds, which starts from identifying the longest non-branched parent alkane in the molecule, counting up from one sequentially starting from the carbon involved in the most prominent functional group (or, more formally, attached to the collection of heteroatoms with highest priority according to some rules), and then numbering the side chains according to this sequen

is the only other C4 alkane isomer possible, aside from n-butane. Its formal name is 2-methylpropane.
Pentane, however, has two branched isomers, in addition to its strictly linear, normal form:

Naming Alkanes
Alkanes are named according to IUPAC nomenclature. The suffix of an alkanes name is always -ane. The prefix depends on the number of carbon atoms in the molecule and on any branched chains that may be attached. Refer to IUPAC nomenclature for greater detail