Octane is a hydrocarbon and an alkane with the chemical formula C 8 H 18 , and the condensed structural formula CH 3 (CH 2 ) 6 CH 3 . Octane has many structural isomers that differ by the amount and location of branching in the carbon chain. One of these isomers, 2,2,4-trimethylpentane (isooctane) is used as one of the standard values in the octane rating scale.

Octane is a component of gasoline (petrol). As with all low-molecular-weight hydrocarbons, octane is volatile and very flammable.

Use of the term in gasoline [ edit ]

"Octane" is colloquially used as a short form of "octane rating" (an index of a fuel's ability to resist engine knock at high compression, which is a characteristic of octane's branched-chain isomers, especially iso-octane), particularly in the expression "high octane."

The octane rating was originally determined by mixing a gasoline made entirely of heptane and 2,2,4-trimethylpentane (a highly branched octane), and assigning anti-knock ratings of 0 for pure heptane and 100 for pure 2,2,4-trimethylpentane. The anti-knock rating of this mixture would be the same as the percentage of 2,2,4-trimethylpentane in the mix. Modern octane ratings of gasoline are given octane ratings equal to those from this original heptane/octane scale. Different isomers of octane can contribute to a higher or lower octane rating. For example, n-octane (the straight chain of 8 carbon atoms with no branching) has a -10 (negative) octane rating, while pure 2,2,4-trimethylpentane (a highly branched octane) has an octane rating of 100.[4][better source needed] Some fuels have an octane rating higher than 100, notably those containing methanol or ethanol.

Metaphorical use [ edit ]

Octane became well known in American popular culture in the mid- and late 1960s, when gasoline companies boasted of "high octane" levels in their gasoline advertisements.

The compound adjective "high-octane", meaning powerful or dynamic, is recorded in a figurative sense from 1944.[5] By the mid-1990s, the phrase was commonly being used as an intensifier and has found a place in modern English vernacular.

Isomers [ edit ]

Octane has 18 structural isomers (24 including stereoisomers):