Thursday, October 6, 2016

What is the product of 2-chloro-2-methylpropane and sodium hydrogen carbonate?

2-Chloro-2-methylpropane is the IUPAC name for an organic chemical.  The word propane means that the longest carbon chain is three carbons long.  The 2-chloro means that carbon number 2 has a chlorine substituent.  The 2-methyl means that carbon number 2 also has a methyl substituent as well.  Another way to describe this molecule would be a central carbon atom with three separate methyl substituents on it as well as a chlorine atom substituent.  Another more...

2-Chloro-2-methylpropane is the IUPAC name for an organic chemical.  The word propane means that the longest carbon chain is three carbons long.  The 2-chloro means that carbon number 2 has a chlorine substituent.  The 2-methyl means that carbon number 2 also has a methyl substituent as well.  Another way to describe this molecule would be a central carbon atom with three separate methyl substituents on it as well as a chlorine atom substituent.  Another more common name for this chemical is tert-butyl chloride.  Sodium hydrogen carbonate has the chemical formula NaHCO3 and is more commonly called sodium bicarbonate.  It is a mild base.


Normally, combining tert-butyl chloride and NaHCO3 would give no reaction.  First of all, the two will not physically interact since tert-butyl chloride is an organic liquid and NaHCO3 is an inorganic salt that will only dissolve in a polar solvent like water.  So the solid NaHCO3 will simply sink to the bottom of the tert-butyl chloride and will not dissolve.  The tert-butyl chloride does not have any acidic protons for the NaHCO3 to react with.  A stronger base would eliminate HCl from the tert-butyl chloride to produce 2-methyl-1-propene, but NaHCO3 is way too mild a base to cause that chemical reaction.


So the final answer would be no reaction.

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