Cyclopentane

Cyclopentane is used in the manufacture of synthetic resins and rubber adhesives and also as a blowing agent in the manufacture of polyurethane insulating foam, and is found in many domestic appliances such as refrigerators and freezers, replacing alternatives such as CFC-11 and HCFC-141b.[5]

Multiply alkylated cyclopentane (MAC) lubricants have low volatility and are used in some specialty applications.[6]

Cycloalkanes can be formulated via a process known as catalytic reforming.

For example, 2-methylbutane can be reformed into cyclopentane, by use of a platinum catalyst. This is particularly well known in automobiles, as branched alkanes will burn much more readily.

This hydrocarbon has also be fluorinated into compounds such as heptafluorocyclopentane[7] and octafluorocyclopentane,[8] which are used industrially.

In a regular pentagon the angles at the vertices are all 108°, slightly less than the bond angle in perfectly tetrahedrally bonded carbon, which is about 109.47°. But cyclopentane is not planar in its normal conformations. It puckers in order to increase the distances between the hydrogen atoms (something which does not happen in the planar cyclopentadienyl anion C₅H−5 because it doesn't have as many hydrogen atoms). This means that the average C-C-C angle is less than 108°. There are two conformations that give local minima of the energy, the "envelope" and the "half-chair". The envelope has mirror symmetry (C_s), while the half chair has two-fold rotational symmetry (C₂). In both cases the symmetry implies that there are two pairs of equal C-C-C angles and one C-C-C angle that has no pair. In fact for cyclopentane, unlike for cyclohexane (C₆H₁₂, see cyclohexane conformation) and higher cycloalkanes, it is not possible geometrically for all the angles and bond lengths to be equal except if it is in the form of a flat regular pentagon.

• 
  Envelope.
• 
  3D envelope.
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  Half-chair.

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