Question

An alkyl halide may be converted in to an alcohol by

• A. Addition
• B. Substitution
• C. Dehydrohalogenation
• D. Elimination

Answer 1

The correct option is B Substitution

Alkyl halides on alkaline hydrolysis get converted into alcohols. This takes place by a nucleophilic substitution reaction where the −X atom is substituted by a nucleophile i.e $-OH$ group. The primary alkyl halides undergo nucleophilic substitution reaction by $S_{N}2$ mechanism, while tertiary alkyl halides follow $S_{N}1$ mechanism.

$R-X+KOH\stackrel{}{\to }R-OH+KX$

The above is the example of a substitution reaction.