The simplest of the organic compounds with carbon-carbon double bonds is ethylene (H2C=CH2), also referred to as an alkene. It is a gas that is colourless, flammable, and smells and tastes sweet. Petroleum and natural gas are two natural sources of ethylene. It is also a hormone that naturally exists in plants, where it inhibits growth and encourages leaf fall, as well as in fruits, where it promotes ripening.
One significant industrial organic chemical is ethylene. It is made by heating fuels such as petroleum or natural gas, particularly their ethane and propane components, to temperatures between 800 and 900 °C (1,470 and 1,650 °F), which produces a mixture of gases from which ethylene can be extracted. Ethylene has a melting point of 169.4 °C (272.9 °F) and a boiling point of 103.9 °C (155.0 °F).
A crucial ligand in transition metal alkene complexes is ethylene. Zeise's salt is an ethylene complex and one of the earliest organometallic substances. The useful chemicals Pt(PPh3)2(C2H4) and Rh2Cl2(C2H4)4 both contain ethylene. On an industrial scale, ethylene is hydroformylated with Rh to produce propionaldehyde. Johann Joachim Becher is thought to have made the discovery of ethylene. He produced the gas by heating ethanol with sulfuric acid, and he wrote about it in his book Physica Subterranea (1669).
Several processes are used in the petrochemical industry to produce ethylene. Steam cracking (SC), which involves heating hydrocarbons and steam to 750–950 °C, is a common technique. Large hydrocarbons are broken down into smaller ones during this process, which also adds unsaturation. Ethane produces ethylene when it is the feedstock. By repeatedly compressing and distilling the resulting mixture, ethylene is removed. Ethylene is primarily produced in Europe and Asia by cracking naphtha, gas oil, and condensates in conjunction with the production of propylene, C4 olefins, and aromatics (pyrolysis gasoline). The oxidative coupling of methane, Fischer-Tropsch synthesis, methanol-to-olefins (MTO), and catalytic dehydrogenation are additional processes used to produce ethylene.
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