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Formal Report - Synthesis of an Alkyl Halide

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Experiment 6: Synthesis of an Alkyl Halide
Maria Alexandria Buraga Ammuyutan
Institute of Chemistry, University of the Philippines, Diliman, Quezon City 1101 Philippines
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Department of Food and Science Nutrition, College of Home Economics, Univeristy of the Philippines, Diliman, Quezon City 1101 Philippines
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ABSTRACT
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Alcohols react with hydrogen halides (HCl is used in this experiment) to yield the resultant alkyl halides and water. The insolubility of the alkyl halide in water allows the separation of it from the aqueous layer using a separatory funnel. The alkyl halide, then, were …show more content…

The temperature should be recorded. When the sample started to boil, the heat was removed and left to cool down before it was disassembled. The pure tert-butyl chloride was then collected and placed in a 10 mL graduated cylinder cooled in an ice bath. The fraction that boiled at 49-52 ̊C was the one collected and submitted to the instructor in a labeled vial.
Figure 1. Simple Distillation set-up
Results and Discussion
The synthesis of alkyl halides was done by adding hydrogen halide, HX (in this experiment, HCl was used). Using tertiary alcohol is most recommended from the synthesis of alkyl halides because it is the most stable and it will react quickly to the reagent. HBr and HI can more readily undergo homolytic cleavage (one electron to each atom) than HCl, since the halogens are not so electronegative. Thus, with a little push, e.g. by a peroxy radical that steals an H atom, these two acids can form bromine and iodine atoms, which can undergo free radical chain reactions. This reaction is the reason for the "antimarkovikov" addition of HBr to alkenes. In the upper atmosphere, chlorine atoms too can survive, and both chlorine and bromine atoms are responsible for free radical chain reactions with convert ozone (O3) back to dioxygen, thus destroying the ozone layer which protects the earth from the near ultraviolet light from the sun. Alkyl halides

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