Question

Give reasons for the following: 

1. Ethyl iodide undergoes S_N2 reactions faster than ethyl bromide. 

2. (±) 2-Butanol is optically inactive. 

3. C-X bond length in halobenzene is smaller than C-X bond length in CH₃ -X.

Answer 1

1. Because in ethyl iodide, iodide being the best leaving group among all the halide ions. Rate of S_N2 reaction ability of leaving group.

2. (±) 2-hutanol is a racemic mixture which is optically inactive due to the external compensation. 

3. Due to resonance in halobenzene, it has a smaller bond length value as compared to CH₃ - X.