what is ethanolic acid or C7H8O?

Question

it says..

C6H6-CH2CL reacts with Hot Ethanolic KOH to give two products which are C7H8O and C6H5-CH2-OCH2CH3.


anybody please help? this is suppose to be a Cambridge A-Level Science question.

sorry. not ethanolic acid. but only ethanolic.

Answer 1

Ethanolic acid is the same as Acetic acid
2 carbon carboxylic acid found in vinegar

You have a benzene ring with a methyl chloride side chain

Benzyl methyl chloride
Bz-CH2-Cl - alkyl halide
========================
acetic acid = CH3-COOH

You are going to form an ether
by replacing the Cl- with the 2 carbons and an oxygen from the acetic acid,

The reaction is a basic reaction of an alkyl halide in a strong base
One of the products is

Bz-CHO- K+ base Benzyl methoxide

the other is the
Bz-CH2-O-CH2CH3
The ether of acetic acid and benzylmethyl chloride\

It is rather odd to mix acetic acid with a strong base, because the you will get a salt of the acid and water, but if you don't do it in a base , it will produce an ester instead of ether

if The BzCH2Cl reacts with H20 you get the
C7H8O- =(Benzylmethanol)

If it reacts with the K-acetic acid salt) you get the ether

C6H5-CH2-O-CH2CH3
So if you wanted the ether , you would want to use Glacial acetic acid (dry), because water will force more of the other product.

Answer 2

Ethanol + KOH -> Potassium ethilate + H2O
This is an equilibria.
Benzyl chloride is an electrophyle.
You have 2 nucleophyles in the reaction OH- (from KOH) and CH3-CH2-O- (potassium ethylate)

The 2 products are:
Benzyl Alcohol
Benzyl-Ethyl Ether

(benzadehyde is C7H6O)

Answer 3

C7H8O is H - OCH2 - C6H5