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Why are unsaturated hydrocarbons useful petrochemical feedstocks?

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structures of common hydrocarbon compounds — hydrocarbon Structures assumed by hydrogen (H) and carbon (C) molecules in four common hydrocarbon compounds.

Unsaturated hydrocarbons are preferred as petrochemical feedstocks because they are significantly more chemically reactive than saturated hydrocarbons.12

This reactivity stems from the presence of carbon-carbon double or triple bonds, which contain a pi (π) bond in addition to a sigma bond. Because the pi bond is a region of increased electron density, it can attract electron-deficient atoms or groups, facilitating addition reactions where the multiple bond is broken to form new, stronger sigma bonds.3

In the petrochemical industry, this property allows these molecules to be easily transformed into a wide array of other essential chemicals, such as plastics, synthetic fibres, and rubbers. While saturated hydrocarbons are useful as fuels, their relative chemical inertness often necessitates "cracking" them into unsaturated forms to serve as viable raw materials for further chemical processing.145