Solvolysis Reaction Lab Report

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This experiment studied the kinetics and the effects of solvent polarity of a solvolysis reaction. This reaction is a SN1 reaction in which the solvent (water) is the nucleophile. The reaction begins with the removal of a chloride ion; this is the rate determining step (slow step). Water is then added to the carbocation, forming a protonated alcohol. Lastly, a proton is removed by the present base. Since the first step is the rate determining step, it is a first-order reaction. Furthermore, two kinetic runs were setup; the first kinetic run had a solvent of 50% ethanol- 50% water, and the second run had a solvent of 40% ethanol- 60% ethanol. This caused the second solution to be more polar. A buret was filled with NaOH, and the initial volume …show more content…

These are both needed for the equation that will give the rate constant, k: ln([RCl]0 ÷ [RCl]t) = kt. The initial concentration was found with the formula [RCl]0 = (V ͚ - V0) , and the concentration at time t was found by [RCl]t = (V ͚ - Vt). These equations were derived after the reaction volume and NaOH concentration canceled out. Since the reaction was first order, plotting ln([RCl]0 ÷ [RCl]t) versus time, the slope will equal the specific rate constant, k. After plotting the data for both the kinetic runs, the second kinetic run had a greater rate constant of 0.0018 compared to 0.0007 in the first kinetic run. Therefore, the data reflected that the more polar solvent resulted in a faster reaction and a greater rate constant, which is characteristic of an SN1 reaction. The polar solvent solvates the carbocation, which lowers the energy and increases the stability of the carbocation. An increase in stability of the carbocation causes an increase in the rate of formation of the carbocation, therefore, increasing the rate of the reaction. Overall, the experiment was successful in testing the effects of solvent polarity, however some sources of error could have affected the data. For example, the recorded times of when the solution turned green or the amount of NaOH added could have been

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