In organic chemistry, hexene is a hydrocarbon with the chemical formula . The prefix "hex" is derived from the fact that there are 6 carbon atoms in the molecule, while the "-ene" suffix denotes that there is an alkene present—two carbon atoms are connected via a double bond. There are several isomers of hexene,[1] depending on the position and geometry of the double bond in the chain. One of the most common industrially useful isomers is 1-hexene, an alpha-olefin. Hexene is used as a comonomer in the production of polyethylene.
The following is a partial list of hexenes.
| Name | Melting point[2] (°C) | Boiling point (°C) | Density (g/cm3) | Refractive index (589 nm) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 592-41-6 | −139.76 | 63.48 | 0.6685 (25 °C) | 1.3852 (25 °C) | |||
| (E)-2-hexene | 4050-45-7 | −133 | 67.9 | 0.6733 (25 °C) | 1.3936 (20 °C) | ||
| (Z)-2-hexene | 7688-21-3 | −141.11 | 68.8 | 0.6824 (25 °C) | 1.3979 (20 °C) | ||
| (E)-3-hexene | 13269-52-8 | −115.4 | 67.1 | 0.6772 (20 °C) | 1.3943 (20 °C) | ||
| (Z)-3-hexene | 7642-09-3 | −137.8 | 66.4 | 0.6778 (20 °C) | 1.3947 (20 °C) |
There are a total of 13 different alkene isomers of hexene, excluding additional geometric (E/Z) and optical (R/S) isomers: