Question

a) Write the mechanism of acid catalysed dehydration of ethanol to ethene.
b) Explain Williamson's reaction. Write the general equation.

Answer 1

a) The mechanism of acid catalyzed dehydration of ethanol to ethene is as shown.
b) Williamson's reaction:
It is used to prepare simple as well as mixed ethers. An alkyl halide is treated with sodium alkoxide.
$R-O-Na+X-R\stackrel{\Delta }{\to }R-O-R^{\prime }+NaX$