Explain why dehydration of alcohols to form alkenes is always carried out with conc. $H_{2} S O_{4}$ , and not with conc. $H C l$ or $H N O_{3}$ ?

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Solution

Conc. sulphuric acid $(H_{2} S O_{4})$ is a good dehydrating agent. On the other hand, hydrochloric acid $(H C l)$ and nitric acid $(H N O_{3})$ are not dehydrating agents. In the case of $H C l$ , $C l^{-}$ is a strong nucleophile and will cause nucleophilic substitution reaction. Similarly, $H N O_{3}$ will cause oxidation reaction. However, in the presence of sulphuric acid, alcohols get protonated and then lose water to form alkene.
$C H_{3} - C H_{2} - O H ⟶ C H_{2} = C H_{2} + H_{2} O$

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