Alkanes, also known as paraffins, are chemical compouns that consist only of the elements carbon (C) and hydrogen (H) (i.e., hydrocarbons), wherein these atoms are linked together exclusively by single bonds (i.e., they are saturated compounds) without any cyclic structure (i.e. loops). Alkanes belong to a homologous series of organic compounds in which the members differ by a constant relative atomic mass of 14.