Question

Hydrogen bonding is maximum in

• A. Ethanol
• B. Diethyl ether
• C. Ethyl chloride
• D. Triethylamine

Answer 1

The correct option is A

Ethanol

Explantion for correct option:

Option (A): Ethanol

• Hydrogen bonding is defined as the formation of hydrogen bonds, which are a special type of attractive intermolecular forces that arise due to the dipole-dipole interaction between a hydrogen atom that is bonded to a highly electronegative atom and another highly electronegative atom that lies next to the hydrogen atom.
• In ethanol, Hydrogen is bound to more electronegative oxygen than triethylamine, where Hydrogen is bound to less electronegative nitrogen, which can be shown as;

• Hence, Hydrogen bonding is maximum in ethanol.

Explantion for incorrect options:

Option (B): Diethyl ether

• Hydrogen bonding is possible only in the case of ethanol and triethylamine but not in Diethyl ether, which can be shown as;

• Here, the option, Diethyl ether doesn't show hydrogen bonding at all, hence it is the incorrect option.

Option (C): Ethyl chloride

• In Ethyl chloride, there is no hydrogen bonding possible as there is no more electronegative atom present in the compound, which can be shown as;

Option (D): Triethylamine

• The oxygen atom is more electronegative than the nitrogen atom so, thus will strongly attract the positively charged hydrogen atom more towards itself.
• Also, in Triethylamine, the +I effect of three methyl groups decreases the extent of hydrogen bonding.
• Hence, Triethylamine does not show the maximum hydrogen bonding, which can be shown as;

Hence, option (A) is correct.