ABSTRACT
Cycloalkanes have a closed circuit of the saturated main chain, while in alkanes there is an open-chain or acyclic main chain. Cycloalkanes might have one or more susbtituents groups attached to their rings. Single substituted alkanes are named with the substituent group followed by the name of the cycloalkane, for example, methylcyclopropane. The numbering scheme in cycloalkanes is clockwise or counter-clockwise, while in alkanes is from left to right or right to left. There are three types of biclyclic hydrocarbons: bridged, fused, and spiro. Bridged and fused bicyclic hydrocarbons have two bridgedhead carbon atoms as the extremes of a chain connecting the two rings in the bicyclic compound. A caged hydrocarbon is a set of more than two fused cyclic moieties in order to form a cage. For the beginners in organic chemistry, it might be a difficult task to correctly draw cyclohexane with its axial and equatorial bonds.
