Suggest why Phenol is more reactive than Benzene in Electrophillic Substitution

With phenol, the oxygen atom is directly attached to the delocolised pi system in phenol, as a result the lone pair on this oxygen is incorporated into this delocolised pi system in phenol, increasing it's electron density.Therefore making it more susceptible to electrophillic attack, where the electrophile (which is electron deffiecient, is attracted to high areas of electron density. Whereas the delocolised pi system in benzene is not as electron rich, and is less suseptible to electrophillic attack, and substitution goes at a much slower rate

HC
Answered by Hayden C. Chemistry tutor

2512 Views

See similar Chemistry A Level tutors

Related Chemistry A Level answers

All answers ▸

Acid HA has a Ka of 2.00 x 10-4mol dm-3. A solution was made by adding 15cm3 of 0.34 M NaOH to 25cm3 of 0.45M HA. Calculate the moles and the concentration of A- and HA in this solution. Using the expression for Ka calculate the pH of the solution


Given the following equilibrium: H2O + H2O <-> H3O+ + OH- and the Kw = 10^-14, determine the concentration of OH- species after the addition of 1 mmol of HCl to 1 L of neutral water.


What is the difference between an aldehyde and a ketone, and what type of molecule can they each be reduced to?


The intermolecular interactions between halogen molecules are Van der Waals' forces. Explain how these Van der Waal's forces arise between halogen molecules.


We're here to help

contact us iconContact ustelephone icon+44 (0) 203 773 6020
Facebook logoInstagram logoLinkedIn logo

MyTutor is part of the IXL family of brands:

© 2026 by IXL Learning