Question

Under what conditions does ethane get converted to :
(a) ethyl alcohol, (b) acetaldehyde,
(c) acetic acid.

Answer 1

a) Ethane reaction with chlorine in presence of sunlight to give chloroethane.
reaction of chloroethane with alkoholic KOH to give ethanol.
$C_2{H}_6+C{l}_2$ $\Rightarrow$ $C{H}_{3}C{H}_{2}Cl$
$C_2{H}_6+alcoholicKOH$ $\Rightarrow$ $C{H}_{3}C{H}_{2}OH$

(b) When mixture of ethane and oxygen is passed through heated molybdenum oxide, the mixture is oxidized to Acetaldehyde.
$C_2{H}_6+O_2$ $\Rightarrow$ $C{H}_{3}CHO+H_{2}O$ | In presence of MoO

(c)Ethanol formed from ethane gets oxidized to acetic acid.
2$C_2{H}_6+O_2$ $\Rightarrow$ 2$C_2{H}_{5}OH$ |at 120 atm in presence of cu tubes at 475 K
$C_2{H}_{5}OH+O_2$ $\Rightarrow$ $C{H}_{3}COOH+H_{2}O$ |Pt at 300 C