Carbon number explained

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+

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;

   page 218