Question

Why does Ethanoyl chloride Fume.

Answer 1

The chemical formula of ethanoyl chloride is $C{{H}_{3}}COCl$ . The chlorine is going to act as a good leaving group in the presence of the strong nucleophile. The presence of chlorine is the reason behind the formation of the fumes from the ethanoyl chloride.

Complete answer:
- In the question it is asked why ethanoyl chloride is going to release fumes in nature.
- The reason behind the fumes from ethanoyl chloride is as follows.
- The ethanoyl chloride is going to react with the moisture which is present in its surrounding the released hydrochloric acid.
- The formed hydrochloric acid is the reason behind the formation of the fumes by the ethanoyl chloride.
- The chemical reaction which represents the formation of the hydrochloric acid from ethanoyl chloride with water is as follows.
$C{{H}_{3}}COCl+{{H}_{2}}O\to C{{H}_{3}}COOH+HCl$
- In the above chemical reaction one mole of ethanoyl chloride is going to react with one mole of water and forms one mole of acetic acid and one mole of HCl as the products.
- In the above chemical reaction water molecule is going to act as a good nucleophile.
- Therefore the reason behind the formation of the fumes by ethanoyl chloride is due to the presence of the moisture in the atmosphere.

Note:
Ethanoyl chloride also reacts with ethanol and forms an ester and hydrochloric acid as the product. Means with ethanol also ethanoyl chloride is going to generate the fumes by liberating hydrochloric acid.