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Edexcel A Level Chemistry

Alkanes

Alkanes are saturated hydrocarbons with single carbon-carbon bonds. These pages separate the topic into crude oil, fuels, alternative fuels and alkane reactions so that students can revise the source, use and chemical behaviour of alkanes clearly.

Exam Papers
Paper 2
9CH0/02
Specification Points
6.10 – 6.23
9 points covered
Sub-topics
4 lessons
Revision notes available
Exam Board
Edexcel
Pearson 9CH0

Reaction Memory Game

Memory game
Match
& react
Alkanes
Free

Reaction memory game: Alkanes

Turn the cards over two at a time: match reagents to what they make, and find how each product is made.

Play free

A free memory game on the reactions in this topic, with your board's reagents, conditions and spec points.

  • Two ways to playMatch each set of reagents to what the reaction makes, or see a product and find the reactant and reagents that make it.
  • Drawn the way the exam draws themEvery structure is drawn in ChemDraw, with the reagents and conditions your exam board asks for.
  • It countsRounds earn XP and keep your streak going, and every correct match shows in your KASP analytics, apart from your marks.

Synthesis maps

Download, print and revise the reactions of this topic at a glance.

Synthesis map · PDF

Alkanes Map

Edexcel A Level Chemistry · Topic 6B Alkanes

Every reaction on one A4 page: reagents, conditions and reaction type for each arrow, colour coded, with the key tests.

Download the map5 reactions · A4 portrait · print ready
Summary map · PDF

Alkanes Summary Map

Edexcel A Level Chemistry · Topic 6B Alkanes

The whole section on one A4 page: crude oil, cracking, reforming, combustion, pollutants and biofuels, with the radical substitution mechanism in a table.

Download the map6 key ideas + the mechanism · A4 portrait · print ready

© 2026 Online Learning System. For personal study: printing is allowed; editing, copying and redistribution are not.

Virtual Lessons

Virtual Lessons
Watch
& learn
4 video lessons
With the course

Virtual Lessons

Taught step by step in 4 recorded video lessons, to watch at your own pace.

See what is inside

Topic 6B Alkanes taught by a specialist chemistry teacher, in 4 recorded video lessons that follow the specification.

  • Learn it before you revise itEach lesson explains the chemistry step by step, with the diagrams, mechanisms and worked examples the exam expects.
  • At your own pacePause, rewind and rewatch any part. Each lesson opens where you stopped.
  • Your progress is keptA lesson is ticked off once you have watched most of it, here and in your course on Moodle.

Multiple Choice Question Exam Practice

Multiple choice
Test
yourself
MCQ (A) to (E)
MCQ (A) free

Test yourself: 5 MCQ papers

Exam-style multiple-choice papers, marked the moment you submit with every answer explained. MCQ (A) is free.

Start MCQ (A) free

5 exam-style multiple-choice papers, MCQ (A) to (E): 110 questions on Topic 6B Alkanes, written the way the exam asks them.

  • Marked the moment you submitYour score straight away, with every answer explained, right or wrong.
  • Revise what you missedEach explanation links to the revision notes for that point.
  • MCQ (A) is freeTry the first paper now. MCQ (B) to (E) come with the course.

Exam Practice Questions

Teacher marked
Write
& draw
10 exam papers
With the course

Written and drawn answers: 10 papers

Draw, write and calculate the way the exam asks, then a specialist chemistry teacher marks your work.

See what is inside

10 exam papers, (A) to (J): 122 questions on Topic 6B Alkanes with no multiple choice. You write explanations, work out calculations and draw answers: structures, mechanisms and diagrams.

  • Answer the way the exam asksThe real paper wants written, worked and drawn answers, so that is how you practise.
  • Marked by a teacher, assisted by KASPA specialist chemistry teacher marks every answer against the mark scheme, with feedback on what to fix.
  • One paper marked each weekYour marked paper comes back here with every marking point shown.

Specification

Specification Coverage

Alkanes – Edexcel A Level Chemistry

The following specification points outline the knowledge and skills students are expected to demonstrate for Topic 6.

6B: Alkanes

6.10
understand that alkane fuels are obtained from the fractional distillation, cracking and reforming of crude oil
6.11
know that pollutants, including carbon monoxide, oxides of nitrogen and sulfur, carbon particulates and unburned hydrocarbons, are formed during the combustion of alkane fuels
6.12
understand the problems arising from pollutants from the combustion of fuels, limited to the toxicity of carbon monoxide and the acidity of oxides of nitrogen and sulfur
6.13
understand how the use of a catalytic converter solves some problems caused by pollutants
6.14
understand the use of alternative fuels, including biodiesel and alcohols derived from renewable sources such as plants, in terms of a comparison with non-renewable fossil fuels
6.15
know that a radical:
i
is a species with an unpaired electron and is represented in mechanisms by a single dot
ii
is formed by homolytic fission of a covalent bond and results in the formation of radicals
6.16
understand the reactions of alkanes with:
i
oxygen in air, combustion
ii
halogens, in terms of the mechanism of radical substitution through initiation, propagation and termination steps
6.17
understand the limitations of the use of radical substitution reactions in the synthesis of organic molecules, in terms of further substitution reactions and the formation of a mixture of products

6C: Alkenes

6.23
understand that heterolytic bond fission of a covalent bond results in the formation of ions
Specification Coverage

Alkanes – Edexcel A Level Chemistry

The following specification points outline the knowledge and skills students are expected to demonstrate for Topic 6.

6B: Alkanes

6.10
understand that alkane fuels are obtained from the fractional distillation, cracking and reforming of crude oil
6.11
know that pollutants, including carbon monoxide, oxides of nitrogen and sulfur, carbon particulates and unburned hydrocarbons, are formed during the combustion of alkane fuels
6.12
understand the problems arising from pollutants from the combustion of fuels, limited to the toxicity of carbon monoxide and the acidity of oxides of nitrogen and sulfur
6.13
understand how the use of a catalytic converter solves some problems caused by pollutants
6.14
understand the use of alternative fuels, including biodiesel and alcohols derived from renewable sources such as plants, in terms of a comparison with non-renewable fossil fuels
6.15
know that a radical:
i
is a species with an unpaired electron and is represented in mechanisms by a single dot
ii
is formed by homolytic fission of a covalent bond and results in the formation of radicals
6.16
understand the reactions of alkanes with:
i
oxygen in air, combustion
ii
halogens, in terms of the mechanism of radical substitution through initiation, propagation and termination steps
6.17
understand the limitations of the use of radical substitution reactions in the synthesis of organic molecules, in terms of further substitution reactions and the formation of a mixture of products

6C: Alkenes

6.23
understand that heterolytic bond fission of a covalent bond results in the formation of ions