Alpha-olefin


Alpha-olefins are a family of organic compounds which are alkenes with a chemical formula CxH2x, distinguished by having a double bond at the primary or alpha position. This location of a double bond enhances the reactivity of the compound and makes it useful for a number of applications.

Classification

There are two types of alpha-olefins, branched and linear. The chemical properties of branched alpha-olefins with a branch at either the second or the third carbon number are significantly different from the properties of linear alpha-olefins and those with branches on the fourth carbon number and further from the start of the chain.

Examples

Examples of linear alpha-olefins are propene, 1-butene and 1-decene.
An example of a branched alpha-olefin is isobutylene.