What is the effect of increasing the size of the halogen in haloalkanes on the reactivity? (2023)
Practice Questions
1 question
Q1
What is the effect of increasing the size of the halogen in haloalkanes on the reactivity? (2023)
Increases reactivity
Decreases reactivity
No effect
Reactivity depends on the solvent
Increasing the size of the halogen decreases the bond strength, thus increasing the reactivity of haloalkanes in nucleophilic substitution.
Questions & Step-by-step Solutions
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Q
Q: What is the effect of increasing the size of the halogen in haloalkanes on the reactivity? (2023)
Solution: Increasing the size of the halogen decreases the bond strength, thus increasing the reactivity of haloalkanes in nucleophilic substitution.
Steps: 6
Step 1: Understand what haloalkanes are. They are organic compounds that contain carbon, hydrogen, and halogen atoms (like fluorine, chlorine, bromine, or iodine).
Step 2: Identify the halogens in haloalkanes. The halogens can be fluorine, chlorine, bromine, or iodine, and they vary in size.
Step 3: Recognize that as you go down the group in the periodic table, the size of the halogen increases. For example, iodine is larger than chlorine.
Step 4: Learn about bond strength. The bond between carbon and the halogen is called a carbon-halogen bond. Larger halogens form weaker bonds with carbon.
Step 5: Understand that weaker bonds are easier to break. If the bond is weaker, it takes less energy to break it, making the haloalkane more reactive.
Step 6: Connect the dots: As the size of the halogen increases, the bond strength decreases, leading to increased reactivity in nucleophilic substitution reactions.
