What is the main product when butanoic acid is treated with thionyl chloride?
Practice Questions
1 question
Q1
What is the main product when butanoic acid is treated with thionyl chloride?
Butyl chloride
Butanoate
Butanoyl chloride
Butanol
The reaction of butanoic acid with thionyl chloride produces butanoyl chloride.
Questions & Step-by-step Solutions
1 item
Q
Q: What is the main product when butanoic acid is treated with thionyl chloride?
Solution: The reaction of butanoic acid with thionyl chloride produces butanoyl chloride.
Steps: 5
Step 1: Identify the starting material, which is butanoic acid. Butanoic acid is a carboxylic acid with the formula C4H8O2.
Step 2: Identify the reagent being used, which is thionyl chloride (SOCl2). This reagent is commonly used to convert carboxylic acids into acyl chlorides.
Step 3: Understand the reaction process. When butanoic acid reacts with thionyl chloride, the -OH group from the carboxylic acid is replaced by a -Cl group.
Step 4: The reaction produces butanoyl chloride (C4H7Cl) as the main product. This is an acyl chloride derived from butanoic acid.
Step 5: The byproducts of this reaction are sulfur dioxide (SO2) and hydrochloric acid (HCl), but the main focus is on the formation of butanoyl chloride.