Three long-chain alkanes detected by Nasa’s Curiosity rover could be chemical biosignatures that point to a history of past ...

For more than a decade, a robotic explorer has been traveling across Mars, quietly collecting clues about a time when the Red ...

An unsolved challenge in catalysis is the efficient and selective functionalization of simple alkanes and plentiful hydrocarbon feedstocks. One promising approach since the late 1990’s is the use of ...

The general formula of the alkanes is \({C_n}{H_{2n + 2}}\). They are insoluble in water. The names, molecular formula and the structural formula of the first eight alkanes must be learned.

Bromine water is an orange solution of bromine. It becomes colourless when it is shaken with an alkene. Alkenes can decolourise bromine water, but alkanes cannot. The slideshow shows this process.

NASA’s Curiosity Martian rover finds organic-like, long-chain alkanes preserved in the planet’s mudstone Twelve years after ...

A dilute solution of bromine is added to samples of heptane and cyclohexene. The bromination reactions and mechanisms are compared. UV light splits the bromine molecule into two reactive radicals, ...

While the presence of these molecules is not proof of ancient life on Mars, scientists say it shows we could detect chemical ...