Question

A mixture of two organic compounds was treated with sodium metal in ether solution. Isobutane was obtained as a product. The two chlorine compounds are:

• A. methyl chloride and propyl chloride
• B. methyl chloride and ethyl chloride
• C. isopropyl chloride and Methyl chloride
• D. isopropyl chloride and ethyl chloride

Answer 1

Answer: (C)

isopropyl chloride and Methyl chloride

Wurtz reaction:

$RX+2Na+RX\underset{ether}{\overset{pure\&dry}{\to }}R-R+2NaX$

$C{H}_{3}Cl+2Na+ClC{H}_3\underset{ether}{\overset{pure\&dry}{\to }}C{H}_{3}C{H}_3+2NaCl$

$2C{H}_3-\underset{C{H}_3}{\underset{|}{CH}}-Cl+2Na\underset{ether}{\overset{pure\&dry}{\to }}C{H}_3\underset{C{H}_3}{\underset{|}{CH}}-\underset{C{H}_3}{\underset{|}{CH}}C{H}_3+2NaCl$

$RX+2Na+X{R}^{\prime }\underset{ether}{\overset{pure\&dry}{\to }}$ Mixture of $R^{\prime }-R^{\prime }+R^{\prime }-R+R-R$ (mixture of three)

$C{H}_{3}Cl+2Na+Cl{C}_2{H}_5\underset{ether}{\overset{pure\&dry}{\to }}C{H}_{3}C{H}_3+C_3{H}_8+C_4{H}_{10}$