Question

How will you convert ethane to ethanol. Give the equation.

Answer 1

• Ethane is a saturated alkane represented by the chemical formula ${\mathrm{CH}}_3-{\mathrm{CH}}_3$and ethanol contains an alcoholic group $\left(\mathrm{OH}\right)$, this represented by the chemical formula ${\mathrm{CH}}_3-{\mathrm{CH}}_2\mathrm{OH}$ .
• To convert ethane to ethanol we first have to covert ethane to ethene i.e. alkene by the following manner:

Setp-1: Ethyl bromide from ethane

$\underset{\mathrm{Ethane}}{{\mathrm{CH}}_3-{\mathrm{CH}}_3\left(\mathrm{g}\right)}\stackrel{{\mathrm{Br}}_2/\mathrm{h\nu }}{\to }\underset{\mathrm{Ethyl}\mathrm{bromide}}{{\mathrm{CH}}_3-{\mathrm{CH}}_2\mathrm{Br}\left(\mathrm{g}\right)}+\underset{\mathrm{Hydrogen}\mathrm{bromide}}{\mathrm{HBr}\left(\mathrm{l}\right)}$

Step-2: Further Ethyl bromide reacts with alcoholic $\mathrm{KOH}$ to give ethene

$\underset{\mathrm{Ethyl}\mathrm{bromide}}{{\mathrm{CH}}_3-{\mathrm{CH}}_2\mathrm{Br}\left(\mathrm{g}\right)}\stackrel{\mathrm{Alc}.\mathrm{KOH}}{\to }\underset{\mathrm{Ethene}}{{\mathrm{H}}_2\mathrm{C}={\mathrm{CH}}_2\left(\mathrm{g}\right)}$

• Now ethene reacts with electrophile and it forms intermediate in the form of carbocation and then form ethanol, reaction can be shown as:

$\underset{\mathrm{Ethene}}{{\mathrm{H}}_2\mathrm{C}={\mathrm{CH}}_2\left(\mathrm{g}\right)}+\underset{\mathrm{Electrophille}}{{\mathrm{H}}_3{\mathrm{O}}^{+}\left(\mathrm{l}\right)}\to \underset{\mathrm{Carbocation}}{{\mathrm{CH}}_3-{\mathrm{CH}}_2^{+}}\stackrel{{\mathrm{OH}}^{-}}{\to }\underset{\mathrm{Ethanol}}{{\mathrm{CH}}_3{\mathrm{CH}}_2\mathrm{OH}\left(\mathrm{l}\right)}$