What is the molecular formula for hexane, cyclohexane, and toluene?

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What is the molecular formula for hexane, cyclohexane, and toluene?

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Answer 1 · 2015-11-20T16:25:33

You can easily look these up, but let's just figure it out without drawing it first...

n-Hexane has six carbons and is a saturated hydrocarbon. It is the most simple compound of the three. As a straight-chained alkane, it has the general formula $C_{n} H_{2 n + 2}$ $"C"_n "H"_(2n+2)$ to account for terminal hydrogens. So, it must be $C_{6} H_{14}$ $"C"_6"H"_14$ .

Cyclohexane is simply the same compound as a ring, giving it a general formula of $C_{n} H_{2 n}$ $"C"_n "H"_(2n)$ . So then it is just $C_{6} H_{12}$ $"C"_6"H"_12$ to account for the absence of terminal hydrogens.

Toluene is the "common" name for methylbenzene. Benzene is $C_{6} H_{6}$ $"C"_6"H"_6$ , so methylbenzene adds ${CH}_{3}$ $"CH"_3$ and takes away one $H$ $"H"$ , making it $C_{7} H_{8}$ $"C"_7"H"_8$ ; or better, $C_{6} H_{5} {CH}_{3}$ $"C"_6"H"_5"CH"_3$ .

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What is the molecular formula for hexane, cyclohexane, and toluene?

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