Question

Why the ease of dehydration of alcohols follows a sequence, tertiary $>$ secondary $>$primary?

Answer 1

Dehydration of alcohols:

• When alcohol reacts with protic acids, it tends to lose a water molecule, resulting in the formation of alkenes.
• These reactions are known as dehydrogenation or alcohol dehydration.
• It is an illustration of an elimination reaction.
• Example of dehydration of ethanol.

Reason for the ease of dehydration of alcohol following a sequence:

• Alcohols dehydrate easily in the following order: tertiary$>$secondary$>$ primary.
• The stability of the intermediate carbocation can be used to justify the ease with which alcohols can be dehydrated.
• The higher the stability of the produced carbonation, the faster the reaction.

• This is owing to the alkyl group's electron-releasing ($+\mathrm{I}$) action.

Alcohols dehydrate easily in the following order: tertiary$>$secondary$>$ primary, due to the order of stability of carbocations produced.