Question

Write a chemical reaction useful to prepare the following:

Carbon tetrachloride from carbon disulphide.

What happens when carbon disulphide is treated with chlorine in the presence of aluminium chloride?

Answer 1

When carbon disulphide is treated with chlorine (Cl₂) in the presence of anhydrous aluminium chloride (AlCl₃) as a catalyst, a reaction occurs that forms carbon tetrachloride (CCl₄) and disulfur dichloride (S₂Cl₂).

\[\ce{\underset{\text{disulphide}}{\underset{Carbon}{CS2}} + 3Cl2 ->[AlCl3][]\underset{\text{tetrachloride}}{\underset{Carbon}{CCl4}}+ \underset{\text{monochloride}}{\underset{Sulphur}{S2Cl2}}}\]