Question

Describe, giving equation, a chemical reaction which is characteristic of saturated hydrocarbons (or alkanes).

Answer 1

Substitution reaction is a characteristic of saturated hydrocarbons (alkanes). It is the reaction in which one or more hydrogen atoms of a hydrocarbon are replaced by other atoms.
Methane reacts with chlorine in the presence of sunlight to form chloromethane and hydrogen chloride. In this reaction, the hydrogen atom from methane is replaced by the chlorine atom.
The chemical equation for the above reaction is as follows:
CH₄ + Cl₂ →  CH₃Cl + HCl