Nucleophillic Substitution Reaction - Essay Example

Nucleophillic Substitution Reaction Essay

If you are an enthusiast who is always keen on understanding the various aspects of reactions, this nucleophillic substitution reaction essay will explain some chemical reactions that are useful for your knowledge and studies.

Both SN1and SN2 components of bromobenzene do not undergo any reaction. It is attributable to bromobenzene stability and the fact that it has vinylic bromine and allylic, which are very stable.

Unlike bromobenzene, bromocyclopentane undergoes a reaction under both SN1 and SN2 reagents. It exhibits faster reaction tendencies in other reagents, such as the AgNO3 ethanol reagent. What best explains this reaction is the fact that bromocyclopentane is secondary bromine, and it is made up of a more significant steric strain. If a molecule has a bigger steric, it becomes complicated for a nucleophile to attack the leaving group, leading to a slower SN2 reaction for bromocyclopentane. When precipitation occurs, the resultant products are AgBr in the ethanol and NaBr in acetone.

If we dwell on bromocyclohexane, we will note that it shows an almost immediate reaction to the SN1 reagent but does not exhibit any reaction signs in SN2 reagent. The steric strain can still explain this as in the bromocyclopentane. The concentration of the strain in bromocyclohexane is bigger than in bromocyclopentane. At the very end, it is only possible for the SN1 reaction to pass through the nucleophillic substitution.

2-bromobutane consists of secondary bromine; hence, there is a possibility that both SN1 and SN2 reaction could take place. It experiences an SN2 sluggish response but shows an instant result during the SN1 reaction. After the reaction, the product that is left could be either AgBr or NaBr. The primary reason why 2-bromobutane experience a slower reaction is because bromine is a better leaving group compared to chlorine. Bromine has a larger diameter, making it easy for it to escape the alkyl group. After it leaves, the precipitates for the reaction are AgCI and NaCI.

Chloroacetone’s reaction is mainly SN2. It is attributable to the fact that the SN1 reaction is prolonged. Since chloroacetone is primarily made up of chlorine, the SN2 reaction tends to happen quickly and is quite favorable. Its stereochemistry further assists the reaction to occur faster. The resultant product for this reaction is NaCI.

On the other hand, the reaction of 1-chlorobutane is prolonged with both SN1 and SN2. Even though 1-chlorobutane has chlorine, in theory, it is only available for an SN2 reaction. It reacts slower in SN1. This is explained by the fact that chlorine creates a hard-to-leave leaving group. The resultant precipitates are AgCI and NaCI.

T-butyl chloride’s reaction with the SN1 reagent is instant but it does not react with the SN2 reagent. This characteristic is attributable to the leaving group, -CI, which is a tertiary atom that only avails itself for the SN1 substitution.

Studying benzyl chloride indicates that it reacts almost immediately with the SN2 reagent. It also reacts to SN1 reagent, but this happens after a couple of minutes. Unlike bromobenzene, benzyl chloride has carbon in between the arene and the leaving group.

It results in a partial charge, which exists on the carbon next to the leaving group. As soon as the nucleophile is attacked, there is an ease of movement for the leaving group here compared to the leaving group of bromobenzene. It is worth noting that the SN2 substitution is more favorable because the –CI in benzyl chloride is a halide, and it may be difficult to react with the SN1 reagent.

Understanding the Diels-Alder Reaction of Maleic Anhydride and Anthracene

The Diels-Alder reaction consists of making a ring that has six members from an open chain. The primary reactants used for this are the Dienophile and Diene. The main aim was to come up with a cyclic product that is not contaminated.

The lab manual shows a clear procedure, which we followed to the core to ensure that we obtained unbiased results. We noted the following:

• That the mass right before recrystallization was 0.5822g
• The mass of the crystal after recrystallization was 0.549g
• The percentage recovery was 94.3%
• The melting point that we used ranged between 262oC and 266oC

Conclusion

When maleic anhydride and anthracene react, they produce 10-dihydroanthracene-9 and 10-succinic acid, maleic anhydride. The solvent xylene dissolves the two compounds when exposed to high temperatures. It, therefore, helped in the recrystallization of the compounds.

The result further shows that there were three relevant troughs, which peaked at 3449.67 cm-1, 3075.19 cm-1, and 2968.73 cm-1, respectively. The first trough is a make-up of the sp and sp2 stretches, which led to the conclusion that there was a double in the product.

The second and third troughs may have occurred because of the C=O bond stretch. Zubrick states that the stretching may be extensive.

What Happens During a Reaction Of Water and Anhydride?

Adding xylene above the suggested levels could prevent it from recrystallizing, there is a possibility that the product could dissolve forever.

The maleic anhydride shows a deep ‘V’ shape in the carbonic region when the frequency is between 3500 cm-1 and 3100 cm-1. It shows that there is an appearance of –OCH in maleic anhydride. However, the troughs in the product detail a very shallow one in comparison to the starting material. The stretches are also likely to be the shape of a ‘U’ as opposed to a ‘V.’

Sp3 is the specific band that is between carbon that in the IR that takes the area to around 3500cm-1 in the IR. The cyclic compound that comes in place when the double bond in maleic anhydride is opened explains this.

Nitration of Toluene

The purpose of this experiment was to establish the regioselectivity during the nitration of toluene. The results of the procedure are detailed below:

• Area of peak 1 (o-nitrotoluene): 11.933
• Area of peak 2-estimation (m-nitrotoluene): 1.5
• Area of peak 3 (p-nitrotoluene):5.833

Conclusion

The nitration of toluene results in three products. Toluene's substituent, -CH3, is a donating group in the arene. Because of this, and the leaving group, the resulting products tend to be ortho and para directing. Therefore the two main products should be o-nitrotoluene and p-nitrotoluene.

It is evidenced further in my CG analysis. The area of the first peak and the third peak is larger than the area of peak 2.

It is worth noting the ration of the products I used was about 8:1:4. The percentage that was calculated was sixty-two percent for ortho-nitrotoluene, eight percent for meta-toluene, and about thirty percent for para-nitrotoluene. It is the ration that I expected before starting the experiment because ortho-para has many products than the meta configuration.