Question

What happens when chloroform is treated with phenol in the presence of alcoholic KOH at 340 K?

Answer 1

When phenol is heated to heating with alcoholic KOH and chloroform, an aldehyde group (-CHO) is introduced into the ring in the ortho position relative to the phenolic group, resulting in the formation of salicylaldehyde. The process is referred to as the Reimer-Tiemann reaction, and it proceeds as follows:

\[\ce{\underset{chloroform}{CHCl3} + \underset{phonel}{C6H5OH} + 3KOH ->[340 K][] \underset{salicylaldehyde}{C6H4CHO(OH)} + 3KCl + 3H2O}\]