(a) Arrange the following compounds in increasing order of their acid strength: p-cresol, p-nitrophenol, phenol.
(b) Write the mechanism (using curved-arrow notation) of the following reaction:
(b) Write the mechanism (using curved-arrow notation) of the following reaction:
Solution
(a) –CH (+I) destabilises the phenoxide, –NO (−I, −M) stabilises it:
(b) Electrophilic protonation of the alkene:
the C=C π-pair swings onto one carbon's H of HO (curved arrow from the double bond to H), the O–H pair falling back onto oxygen —
forming the ethyl carbocation (the first step of acid hydration).
(b) Electrophilic protonation of the alkene:
the C=C π-pair swings onto one carbon's H of HO (curved arrow from the double bond to H), the O–H pair falling back onto oxygen —
forming the ethyl carbocation (the first step of acid hydration).
CBSE Class 12 Board · 2017 · Subjective