Deduce the main organic product for the reaction of benzene with nitric acid in the prescence of sulfuric acid, and provide a complete mechanism for this reaction. (5 marks)
The answer to this question mostly involves drawing of chemical structures and mechanistic arrows.The organic product is nitrobenzene, which students would draw out as part of the mechanism, but must also name it (1 mark). This reaction is an example of an aromatic substitution reaction or SEAr. Full chemical equations for the generation of the nitronium ion are also required:H2SO4 + HNO3 --> H2NO3+ + HSO4- (1 mark)H2NO3+ --> H2O + NO2+ (1 mark)
curly arrow mechanism(2 marks) (I will draw this out during the session)
EB
Related Chemistry A Level answers
All answers ▸What reaction occurs when benzene is mixed with equal amounts of sulphuric and nitric acid?
i)Explain why first ionisation energy shows a general tendency to increase across a period? ii)Using period 3 as an example, which elements show irregularities in this trend and why?
Why dose sodium oxide have a high melting point?
Explain the shapes of the molecules NH3 and AlCl3 (using diagrams)