The primary source of alkanes is petroleum Natural gas consists chiefly of methane, but ethane, propane, butane, and isobutane are also present. Petroleum is a complex mixture of hydrocarbons that must be refined into different fraction before it can be used
The different arrangements of atoms caused by rotation about a single bond are called conformations (构象)of the molecule, and a specific conformation is called a conformer (构象异构体, conformation isomer). An analysis of the energy changes that a molecule undergoes as groups rotate about single bonds is called a conformational analysis (构象分析)
