Calling Out The Chemists

[Johnny Pneumatic]

Mr. and Ms. Chemists of the JREF forums, are C=C=C=C=C=C=C ad infinitum strings chemically possible? If so, what are their properties? Are they hydrophobic or hydrophilic? What, if anything, can bind to the carbon atoms' free sites when they're in this form? Can something be done to keep them as just a C=C=C=C=C=C string, with no other elements bonded to them?

 

[geni]

Mr. and Ms. Chemists of the JREF forums, are C=C=C=C=C=C=C ad infinitum strings chemically possible?

Sort of. What you get is alternateing tripple and single bonds. They are generated by certian stars. They will have a non carbon terminal group from what remember. It was what harry Kroto was looking into when he found C60

If so, what are their properties?

Hellishly unstable. Other than that physical perperties would probably be simular to those of alkynes

Are they hydrophobic or hydrophilic?

If you could prevent them from reacting with water hydrophobic but less so than alkanes of the same length

What, if anything, can bind to the carbon atoms' free sites when they're in this form?

err everything.

What you have drawn is a double ended carbene. A normal single ended carbene of that type can only be kept stable long enough to be observed by suspending in excess argon at about 12K.

Can something be done to keep them as just a C=C=C=C=C=C string, with no other elements bonded to them?

Well you will need that terminal group but once you have that you can keep them in a hard vacume or at 0K. These things are not stable. If you were able to make one without a non carbon terminal group they aould form a ring