Iceane

Iceane is a saturated polycyclic hydrocarbon with formula C₁₂H₁₈. It has a cage-like molecular structure, whose carbon skeleton can be viewed as three fused cyclohexane rings in the boat conformation; or as two such rings in the chair conformation, connected by three parallel (axial) bonds.

The name "iceane" was proposed by the chemist Louis Fieser about a decade before the compound was first prepared. He was carrying out studies on the arrangement of water molecules in ice, when it occurred to him that there could exist a stable hydrocarbon with the above structure.

It is also referred to as wurtzitane, due to its similarity to the wurtzite crystal structure; however, the name "iceane" has precedence.