Question

How will you prepare chloroethane from ethanol?

Answer 1

Chloroethane (C₂H₅Cl) can be prepared from ethanol (C₂H₅OH) by treating it with thionyl chloride (SOCl₂). This is a nucleophilic substitution reaction, where the hydroxyl group (–OH) in ethanol is replaced by a chlorine atom.

\[\ce{\underset{Ethanol}{CH2H5 - OH} + \underset{Thionyl chloride}{SOCl2} → \underset{Chloroethane}{CH2H5 - Cl} + \underset{Sulfurdioxide}{SO2}+ \underset{Hydrochloric acid}{{HCl}}}\]