Question
Question: What happens when benzene reacts with \( C{H_3}Cl \) ?...
What happens when benzene reacts with CH3Cl ?
Solution
Hint : Alkylation and acylation processes are the two most common Friedel-Crafts reactions. In the year 1877 , French chemist Charles Friedel and American chemist James Crafts developed these reactions.
Complete Step By Step Answer:
Toluene is formed when benzene interacts with chloromethane ( CH3Cl ) in the presence of anhydrous aluminium chloride ( AlCl3 ). Friedel-Crafts alkylation is the name for this reaction.
A Friedel-Crafts reaction is a type of organic coupling reaction that uses an electrophilic aromatic substitution to attach substituents to aromatic rings. The Friedel-Crafts alkylation process is an electrophilic aromatic substitution reaction that adds an alkyl group to a benzene molecule.
Friedel-Crafts Alkylation is defined as the substitution of an alkyl group for an aromatic proton. With the help of a carbocation, an electrophilic attack on the aromatic ring is carried out. The Friedel-Crafts alkylation reaction uses alkyl halides as reactants to generate alkylbenzenes.
In this reaction, a Lewis acid catalyst such as AlCl3 or FeCl3 is used to facilitate the elimination of the halide and so generate a carbocation. Before proceeding with the alkylation step, the resultant carbocation undergoes a rearrangement. Toluene is formed as the final product.
The reaction is as follows:
Here R represents CH3
Note :
Benzene is converted to alkyl benzene when it is treated with an alkyl halide in the presence of anhydrous aluminium chloride. The hydrogen atom of benzene is replaced by an alkyl group in this process. Alkyl groups are electrophiles, and aluminium plays a role in generating these electrophiles.