isocetane

Also known as heptamethylnonane

Isocetane (2,2,4,4,6,8,8-heptamethylnonane) is a highly branched alkane used as a reference in determining the cetane number of diesel. It has a cetane number of 15. Isocetane replaced 1-methylnaphthalene in 1962 as the lower reference for cetane number (1-methylnaphthalene has cetane number zero) owing to the oxidation instability and difficulty of use of 1-methylnaphthalene in the reference engine.

Chemical data

Formula: C16H34
Molecular weight: 226.44 g/mol
IUPAC name: 2,2,4,4,6,8,8-heptamethylnonane
SMILES: CC(CC(C)(C)C)CC(C)(C)CC(C)(C)C
InChIKey: VCLJODPNBNEBKW-UHFFFAOYSA-N
XLogP: 7.3
Polar surface area: 0 Å²
H-bond donors: 0
H-bond acceptors: 0
Formal charge: 0

via PubChem

Drug data · ChEMBL

Molecule type: Small molecule

via ChEMBL · EBI

Wikidata facts

Subclass of: alkane
Mass: 226.266

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canonical SMILES: CC(CC(C)(C)C)CC(C)(C)CC(C)(C)C
chemical formula: C₁₆H₃₄

Sources (3)

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Encyclopedic overview

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Contents

References

Strictly speaking, if the standard meaning of ‘iso’ is followed, the name isocetane should be reserved for the isomer 2-methylpentadecane. However, 2,2,4,4,6,8,8-heptamethylnonane is by far the most important isomer of cetane and so, historically, it has ended up with this name.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “isocetane” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.