Question

Butane can be prepared from ethyl chloride using the following synthesis



The reaction is

• A. Wurtz reaction
• B. Kolbe's electrolytic method
• C. Sandmayer's reaction
• D. Corey-House synthesis

Answer 1

Answer: (D)

Here an alkyl halide is first converted to lithium dialkyl cuperate, ${\text{R}}_{\text{2}}\text{CuLi}$ , which on reaction with alkyl halide gives an alkane. This method is also suitable for the preparation of unsymmetrical alkane of the type $\text{R}\text{R}$ − $\text{R}$ ′ , where $\text{R}\text{R}$ ≠ $\text{R}$ ′ .