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Question

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


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Solution

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.
dehydration of ethanol to give ethene

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.
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  • This is owing to the alkyl group's electron-releasing (+I) action.

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


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