Britannica
Sources used in this answer
- organic compound - Alkanes
- hydrocarbon - Chemical reactions
- single bond: Top Questions
- organic compound - Functional groups
- chemical compound - Functional groups
- polarity
- chemical bonding - The polarity of molecules
- electronegativity
- organic compound - Carbon bonding
- nitrogen group element - Relative electronegativities
Why are carbon-carbon and carbon-hydrogen single bonds usually not very reactive?
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organic compound
The structures of organic compounds can be depicted in condensed, expanded, and three-dimensional structural formulas.
Carbon-carbon and carbon-hydrogen single bonds are generally not very reactive for two primary reasons:
- High Bond Strength: These covalent bonds are extremely strong, making them resistant to the bond-breaking processes required for chemical reactions.12
- Uniform Charge Distribution: The electrons in these bonds are shared relatively evenly between the bonded atoms. Because carbon and hydrogen have similar electronegativities, these bonds are nonpolar, meaning there is no significant separation of electrical charge.123
Chemical reactivity typically requires regions of high or low electron density—often created by polar bonds or multiple bonds—to initiate the breaking and forming of bonds. Because carbon-hydrogen and carbon-carbon single bonds lack these reactive sites, hydrocarbons containing only these types of bonds are relatively inert and serve as the stable framework for most organic compounds.124