Question

How will you prepare the following from alkyl halide: Nitroalkane?

Answer 1

Alkyl halides are compounds consisting of the alkyl group and a halogen atom. Nitroalkanes are compounds consisting of the alkyl group and nitro group. By nucleophilic substitution of halogen atoms by the nitro group, nitroalkanes can be produced from alkyl halide.

Complete answer:
Alkanes are saturated hydrocarbons consisting of only carbon and a hydrogen atom. When one of the hydrogen atoms in alkanes is replaced by halogen then those chemical compounds can be known as alkyl halides. Thus, alkyl halides consist of an alkyl group along with any halogen atom-like chlorine, bromine, or iodine. The general molecular formula of alkyl halides is $R - X$ .
Nitroalkanes are the chemical compounds consisting of the alkyl group along with the nitro group. Nitroalkanes are also known as alkyl nitrates. The general molecular formula of nitroalkanes is $R - N{O_2}$ .
When allyl halides are treated with reagents like silver nitrite, the halide atom gets replaced by the nitro group.
The chemical reaction involved for the formation of nitroalkane from alkyl halide will be as follows:
$R - X + AgN{O_2} \to R - N{O_2} + AgX$
Let us consider a simple alkyl halide like methyl chloride. On treating methyl chloride with silver nitrate nitromethane will be produced.
$C{H_3} - Cl + AgN{O_2} \to C{H_3} - N{O_2} + AgCl$
Thus, nitrating reagents like silver nitrite action converts alkyl halide to nitroalkane.

Note:
Along with the formation of nitroalkane, there will be a formation of ionic salts like silver chloride. Silver nitrite, which is used in the above reaction, is different from silver nitrate. Silver nitrite has the chemical formula of $AgN{O_2}$ and silver nitrate has the chemical formula of $AgN{O_3}$ .