What type of reaction do haloalkanes undergo with nucleophiles?

Halogens are electronegative than the adjacent carbon atoms in haloalkanes.Therefore they have a tendency to attract the pair of electrons in a covalent bond, forming a polar bond.The carbon becomes electron deficient and therefore attracts the nucleophile (electron donor).The reaction will be a nucleophilic substitution where the nucleophile replaces the halide - in this case forming an alcohol.
CH3CH2CL + OH- —> CH3CH2OH + Cl-

Related Chemistry A Level answers

All answers ▸

Explain: 1. Why butanoic acid has a higher boiling point than butan1-ol? 2. Why carboxylic acids of short chain length are more soluble in water than those with longer carbon chain length?


Why does ice float on water?


1a) Describe the difference between strong and weak acids. 1b) HCl is a strong acid. Draw the spin diagram for a chlorine atom.


Why does boiling point decrease down group 1 in the periodic table? [3 marks]