What is hydrogenation? What is its industrial application?


It is a class of chemical reactions in which the net result is the addition of hydrogen (H2) to unsaturated organic compounds such as alkenes, alkynes, etc. Hydrogenation is widely applied to the processing of vegetable oils and fats. Complete hydrogenation converts unsaturated fatty acids to saturated ones. 

[Extra information: Homologous series is a group of organic compounds having similar structures and similar chemical properties in which the successive compounds differ by CHgroup.

Example: All the alkanes have similar structures with single covalent bonds and show similar chemical properties, so they can be grouped together in the form of a homologous series.

Certain compounds contain only carbon and hydrogen. Hence, these organic compounds are called hydrocarbons.The hydrocarbons which are members of the same homologous series are:

Alkanes: C3H8, C4H10

Alkenes: C5H10, C8H16

Alkynes: C6H10, C7H12

Characteristics of a homologous series are given below:
(i) All the members of the homologous series can be represented by the same general formula.
(ii) Any two adjacent homologues differ by 1 carbon atom and 2 hydrogen atoms in their molecular formulae.
(iii) The difference in the molecular masses of any two adjacent homologues is 14 u.]

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Updated on: 13-Mar-2023

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