What are Alkyl groups?
Alkyl groups are substituents that have one less H (hydrogen atom) than the corresponding alkane. For eg, -CH3 (methyl) group has has one less hydrogen that the the corresponding alkane, CH4 (methane). An alkyl group is a univalent radical consisting of carbon and hydrogen atoms, with one H atom less than their alkane counterparts. They form homologous series with a general formula of CnH2n+1, while the general formula of the alkanes is CnH2n+2. Thus from the general formula it is observed that an alkyl group has one less hydrogen atom than their alkane counterparts.
