Chemistry Hydrocarbons Syllabus for NEET 2026

Hydrocarbons are the simplest organic compounds made entirely of carbon and hydrogen, yet they form the foundation of almost every branch of organic chemistry. Their structures and reactions help explain how organic compounds behave under different reaction conditions and how complex molecules are formed from basic carbon frameworks.

This unit covers alkanes, alkenes, alkynes, and aromatic hydrocarbons along with their preparation, properties, nomenclature, and chemical reactions. It also introduces important concepts such as conformations, geometrical isomerism, electrophilic addition, aromaticity, and substitution reactions that are repeatedly used in higher organic chemistry.

Alkanes and Their Conformations

Alkanes are saturated hydrocarbons containing only single covalent bonds between carbon atoms. Their relatively stable nature makes them less reactive compared to unsaturated hydrocarbons, but they still undergo important substitution reactions.

This unit introduces conformations of ethane using Sawhorse and Newman projections to explain rotation around carbon-carbon single bonds. These representations help visualise staggered and eclipsed conformations and their relative stability.

Halogenation of Alkanes is studied through free radical substitution mechanisms, where hydrogen atoms are replaced by halogens under suitable conditions.

Alkenes and Electrophilic Addition Reactions

Alkenes contain carbon-carbon double bonds that make them more reactive than alkanes. Their reactions mainly involve addition across the double bond due to the presence of π-electrons.

This topic explains geometrical isomerism in alkenes and reactions, such as:

• Hydrogenation

• Halogen addition

• Addition of water

• Addition of hydrogen halides

Markovnikov’s rule and the peroxide effect are important concepts that help predict the product formed during addition reactions.

This unit also covers ozonolysis, which is used to identify the position of double bonds, and polymerization reactions that lead to the formation of important industrial polymers.

Alkynes and Their Chemical Behaviour

Alkynes are unsaturated hydrocarbons containing carbon-carbon triple bonds. Because of the high electron density associated with the triple bond, alkynes undergo several additional reactions similar to alkenes. The syllabus includes the addition of:

• Hydrogen

• Halogens

• Water

• Hydrogen halides

Terminal alkynes also show acidic character due to the presence of hydrogen attached to sp-hybridized carbon atoms.

Polymerization reactions of alkynes are additionally studied as part of industrial applications and reaction pathways in organic chemistry.

Aromatic Hydrocarbons and Benzene Reactions

Aromatic Hydrocarbons possess special stability due to delocalized π-electrons within cyclic structures. Benzene is the most important aromatic compound studied in this chapter. This topic explains:

• Structure and aromaticity of benzene

• Electrophilic substitution mechanism

• Halogenation and nitration

• Friedel-Crafts alkylation and acylation

You also study how functional groups already attached to benzene rings influence the position of incoming substituents during reactions.

Understanding aromatic hydrocarbons helps in connecting reaction mechanisms with orientation effects and stability concepts.

Hydrocarbons: Complete Study Resources By PW

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