4.2 - Alcohols and Haloalkanes(and more...) Flashcards
Why are alcohols polar molecules?
Alcohols have a polar -OH bond because of the difference in electronegativity of oxygen and hydrogen atoms
Alcohols are therefore polar
Properties of alcohols
- Low volatility
- High BP
- Very soluble in water
Why alcohols have high BP/low volatility?
- Alcohols contain weak London Forces and also contain hydrogen bonding.
- these hydrogen bonds between molecules require more energy to overcome than London forces
- so more energy required to heat liquid alcohol into a gas
Why alcohols are soluble in water
-Alcohols form hydrogen bonds with water molecules between -O on water and -Oh group on alcohols
Trend in solubility and Volatility with increasing hydrocarbon chain length
-Volatility: Volatility decreases
More energy required to break increased London Forces and strong hydrogen bonds in -OH group
-Solubility: decreases with increased hydrocarbon chain length
-OH group has less influence on whole molecule as CH chain increases
What are primary alcohols?
When -OH group bonded to a carbon bonded to 1 other carbon
What are secondary alcohols?
When -OH group bonded to a carbon that is bonded to two other carbons
What is a tertiary alcohol?
-OH group is bonded to a carbon bonded to three other carbons
Which alcohols oxidise?
Primary - yes
Secondary - yes
Tertiary - no
What do primary and secondary alcohols oxidise to?
- What conditions required?
Primary:
Heat gently and with Distillation - aldehyde
Heat strongly under Reflux with excess H+/pot di - carboxylic acid
Secondary:
Heat strongly under Reflux with excess H+/pot di - ketone
Reagent and colour change observed during alcohol oxidation
Acidified potassium dichromate -
H+/Cr2O72-
Orange to green
Reason for different conditions of alcohol oxidation
Primary alcohol:
Distillation - aldehyde has lower BP than Carboxylic acid.
- need to distil out aldehyde before complete oxidation completed to produce any carboxylic acid
Prevents any further reaction with oxidising agent
Reflux - excess H+/pot di used to completely oxidised all alcohol to a carboxylic acid
Any aldehyde formed also undergoes oxidation to carboxylic acid
Secondary alcohol:
Reflux - ensures reaction goes to completion and that all alcohol is oxidised completely to a ketone
Dehydration of alcohols process
- Water molecule removed from alcohol
- C-C bond concerned turns into C=C double bond
- catalyst used is either sulfuric acid(H2SO4) or phosphoric acid(H2PO4)
- produces an alkene and a water molecule
Substitution reaction of alcohols process
- Alcohols react with hydrogen halides to form haloalkanes
- Alcohol heated under reflux with sulfuric acid and a sodium halide
- Hydrogen halide forms and reacts with alcohol to produce the haloalkane
Why haloalkanes are polar
- They have a carbon-halogen bond in their structure
- halogens are more electronegative than carbon atoms
- Electron pair in carbon-halogen bond is therefore closer to the halogen atom than the carbon atom.
- So the carbon-halogen bond is polar
Nucleophile def
An electron pair donor