Question

Chlorination of methane is an example of:

• A. addition reaction
• B. reduction reaction
• C. dehydration reaction
• D. substitution reaction

Answer 1

The correct option is D substitution reaction

A substitution reaction is a chemical reaction during which one atom or group of atoms in a chemical compound is replaced by another atom or group of atoms.

Chlorination of methane is a substitution reaction because chlorine atom replaces hydrogen atom from the methane molecule. The reaction occurs as follows:

${\text{CH}}_4\text{(g)}+{\text{Cl}}_2\text{(g)}\underset{}{\overset{\mathrm{sunlight}}{\to }}{\text{CH}}_3\text{Cl (g)}+\text{HCl (g)}\mathrm{Methane}\mathrm{Chlorine}\mathrm{Chloro}\mathrm{Hydrogen}\mathrm{methane}\mathrm{chloride}$