Carbon number

In organic chemistry, the carbon number of a compound is the number of carbon atoms in each molecule.[1] The properties of hydrocarbons can be correlated with the carbon number, although the carbon number alone does not give an indication of the saturation of the organic compound. When describing a particular molecule, the "carbon number" is also the ordinal position of a particular carbon atom in a chain.

Compounds by carbon number

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

21 22 23 24 25–29 30–39 40–49 50–100

See also

• IUPAC nomenclature of organic chemistry

References

1. Nava Dayan, Lambros Kromidas (ed.) Formulating, Packaging, and Marketing of Natural Cosmetic Products John Wiley & Sons, 2011; ISBN 047048408X; page 218