Question

What is the product obtained when chlorine reacts with ethyl alcohol in the presence of $NaOH$ ?

• A. $C{H}_{3}Cl$
• B. $C_2{H}_{5}Cl$
• C. $CC{l}_3.CHO$
• D. $CHC{l}_3$

Answer 1

Answer: (D)

When chlorine reacts with ethyl alcohol in the presence of $NaOH$, chloroform is obtained as a final product.
$C{H}_{3}C{H}_{2}OH+C{l}_2\stackrel{\text{ Oxidation }}{\to }\underset{\text{acetaldehyde}}{C{H}_{3}CHO+2HCl}$
$C{H}_{3}CHO+3C{l}_2\stackrel{\text{ Chlorination }}{\to }\underset{\text{chloral}}{CC{l}_{3}CHO}+3HCl$
$CC{l}_{3}CHO+NaOH\stackrel{\text{ Hydrolysis }}{\to }\underset{\text{chloroform}}{CHC{l}_3}+HCOONa$