2-Bromohexane Lab Report

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Addition reactions are a common chemical transformation of a carbon-carbon double bound. Carbon-carbon double bonds contain one pi bond, which is held together weakly, and one sigma bond. The weak pi bond of the alkene, like 1-hexene, can be broken if a strong base is added. The electrophile, aka the base, attacks the nucleophile of the molecule. A covalent bond forms between the base and the carbon, which is an exothermic and favorable reaction. In this specific experiment, 1-hexene and HBr were added to each other to see if 2-bromohexane would form as product. Markonikov’s rule would be followed, and product 2-bromohexane would be formed, if the solution when silver nitrate was added turned a pale yellow color. The point of this experiment …show more content…

Markovnikov’s Rule states that “when a Bronsted acid, HX, adds to an unsymmetrically substituted double bond, the acidic hydrogen of the acid bonds to that carbon of the double bond that has the greater number of hydrogen atoms already attached to it.” There is preferential substitution, which is called regioselectivity. This is when a protic acid is added to an alkene, its halide binds to more substituted carbon and its hydrogen will bind to the smallest substituted carbon. HBr is immiscible with an alkene, so mixing them would form two separate layers. Along with this, HBr is a very strong acid, and its conjugate acid in an aqueous solution (H3O+) won’t protonate the …show more content…

In order for the reflux to work well, rapid stirring must be in effect throughout. The yield of 2-bromohexane is higher when the reaction mixture is stirred. This is because when HBr is alone, it is immiscible in 1-hexene. Stirring with tetrabutyl ammonium bromide causes separation of organic and aqueous layers. When the aqueous layer is removed, we make it more reactive with alkene. Then stirring solution causes more surface area for the HBr and 1-hexene to react with each other, so more product of 2-bromohexane forms. Separating reagents between phases is important and can be contributed to total surface area. In order to increase the surface area, the reaction must be stirred to stimulate colloids and droplets of immiscible layers. If no mixture occurs, no formation of two distinct layers will occur and the organic portion product will have low content because HBr may have reaction with water and produced a weak acid H3O+. Phase transfer catalysts, like tetrabutyl ammonium bromide are amphoteric. The ammonium salt removes HBr from an aqueous phase and puts it in an organic

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