Heat of Combustion
Differences such as this reflect subtle structural variations, including the greater bond energy of 1º-C–H versus 2º-C–H bonds and steric crowding of neighboring groups. In small-ring cyclic compounds ring strain can be a major contributor to thermodynamic stability and chemical reactivity. The following table lists heat of combustion data for some simple cycloalkanes and compares these with the increase per CH2 unit for long chain alkanes.