Questions about tert butyl chloride.?

Question

1) Why is it needed that the concentrated HCl is cold upon addition to the tert butanol?
2) Why is distillation a part of the synthesis of tert butyl chloride?
3) Why is it important that the flow of water in the condenser continous?

Thank you very much!

Answer 1

You didn't say anything about how your lab is being carried out, so it is hard to give exact answers.

Possibly, the acid needs to be cold to keep the reaction from going too fast, or to avoid side reactions.

The distillation is needed to purify the final product, there will be unreacted t-butanol and possibly other by-products. Possibly you are to distill away the lower-boiling point product as it forms, to drive the reaction to completion.

The water flow in the condensor needs to be continous to properly cool and condense the hot product vapors. If the water is not flowing there will be no condensation; you'll lose all your product, as well as all your grade!