Mechanism of unimolecular and bimolecular elimination reactions Discuss possible
ID: 875836 • Letter: M
Question
Mechanism of unimolecular and bimolecular elimination reactions
Discuss possible elimination products for reactions of 1- and 2-butanol and 1-and 2-bromobutane, the physical state of those products and how they were collected
GC analysis of product mixture
Identification of peaks based on order of elution and boiling points of elimination products
Calculation of relative concentrations of each elimination product
Interpretation of chromatographic data (i.e., identification of major and minor products)
Explanation of relative amounts of each elimination product w/r/t reactant and reaction conditions
Description of mechanism involved in each elimination reaction based on chromatographic data
Explanation / Answer
Unimolecular elimination reaction : Unimolecular Elimination (E1) is a reaction in which the removal of an HX substituent results in the formation of a double bond. It is similar to a unimolecular nucleophilic substitution reaction (SN1) in various ways. One being the formation of a carbocation intermediate. Also, the only rate determining (slow) step is the dissociation of the leaving group to form a carbocation, hence the name unimolecular.
An E1 reaction involves the deprotonation of a hydrogen nearby (usually one carbon away, or the beta position) the carbocation resulting in the formation of an alkene product. In order to accomplish this, a Lewis base is required. For a simplified model, we