Chapter 17, Problem 17E.2BE

Interpretation Introduction

Interpretation:

The mechanism for the reaction between $\text{2-chloroethanol}$ and hydroxide ions in aqueous solution to form ethylene oxide consists of the following steps:

    $\begin{array}{l}{\text{CH}}_{\text{2}}{\text{ClCH}}_{\text{2}}\text{OH}\text{+}{\text{OH}}^{\text{-}}\underset{}{\overset{}{\rightleftarrows }}{\text{CH}}_{\text{2}}{\text{ClCH}}_{\text{2}}{\text{O}}^{\text{-}}\text{+}{\text{H}}_{\text{2}}\text{O}\\ {\text{CH}}_{\text{2}}{\text{ClCH}}_{\text{2}}{\text{O}}^{\text{-}}\stackrel{}{\to }{\text{(CH}}_{\text{2}}{\text{CH}}_{\text{2}}\text{)O}\text{+}{\text{Cl}}^{\text{-}}\end{array}$

It has to be shown that there is a pre-equilibrium step involving the rate of formation of ethylene oxide $\text{υ}\text{=}{\text{k}}_{\text{2}}{\text{K[CH}}_{\text{2}}{\text{ClCH}}_{\text{2}}{\text{OH][OH}}^{\text{-}}\text{]}\text{where}{\text{k}}_{\text{2}}$ is the rate constant for the second step and K is the equilibrium constant.