https://doi.org/10.15255/KUI.2015.039
Published: Kem. Ind. 65 (3-4) (2016) 175−178
Paper reference number: KUI-39/2015
Paper type: Professional paper / Chemistry in Teaching
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What can be Learned from the Boiling Points of Alkanes?

N. Raos

Abstract

The fact that the boiling point of alkanes rises with the number of carbon atoms and drops with their branching has many consequences. The first is the difference in the use of two kinds of natural gas, methane and butane. The second is the problem of properties inside the homologous series that from the one hand connects the boiling points of alkanes with the properties in other homologous series, and from the other gives the teacher an opportunity to inform the students about the chemical graph theory, i.e. the Wiener number (the first topological index) which has been developed for solving this particular problem. In this contribution, the basics of the chemical graph theory are presented, and also pointed out are the properties in the homologous series which inspired 19^th century chemists to propose the periodic system of the elements. At any rate, the problem of the boiling points of alkanes is a valuable topic in the problematic teaching of chemistry.

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Keywords

chemistry education, periodic system of elements, chemical graph theory, Wiener number, Wiener index