An organic compound containing at least one carbon-carbon double bond; a type of unsaturated hydrocarbon.
From German Alken (1860s), coined from alkyl (from alcohol) + -ene (Greek for female, used to denote double bonds). This systematic term revolutionized organic chemistry naming.
Alkenes are the building blocks of plastics and countless industrial chemicals—that simple C=C double bond is like a chemical handle that lets molecules grab onto each other and form long chains.
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