2021 P1 Q18 - Compare Reactivity of Halogenoalkanes

Let Chemistry Guru, Singapore's top choice for JC Chemistry tuition, guide you through 2021 A Levels H2 Chemistry Paper 1 Question 18.

We need to deduce which of the two statements explain why 2-bromopropane is more reactive than 2-chloropropane.

First Let Chemistry Guru, Singapore's top choice for JC Chemistry tuition, guide you through a simple nucleophilic substitution using hydroxide.

From the reaction we can tell that nucleophilic substitution involves breaking of the C-X bond to form X^-.

Let's go through each statement and see which are correct.

1. The ionisation energy of bromine is less than the ionisation energy of chlorine.

Ionisation energy is the energy required to remove electron from halogen to form halogen cation.

During nucleophilic substitution, there is no loss of electron from halogen atom and no halogen cations are formed.

Therefore this statement is not relevant and not correct.

2. The shared pair of electrons in the carbon-halogen bond is more shielded from the halogen nucleus in 2-bromopropane than in 2-chloropropane.

The shared pair of electrons in the C-X bond is simply the bond pair of electrons.

For C-Cl bond:

Chlorine has 2 inner shells and the bond pair experiences less shielding effect.

Hence there is stronger attraction on bond pair of electrons, C-Cl bond is stronger and more energy needed to break.

This makes 2-chloropropane less reactive.

For C-Br bond:

Bromine has 3 inner shells and the bond pair experiences greater shielding effect.

There is weaker attraction on the bond pair, C-Br bond is weaker and less energy required to break.

Hence 2-bromopropane is more reactive.

This means statement 2 is correct since it can explain why 2-bromopropane is more reactive.

3. The atomic radius of bromine is larger than the atomic radius of chlorine.

Bromine is larger in size which makes the C-Br bond longer and weaker.

This makes the bromo compound more reactive and statement 3 is correct.

4. There are more protons in the nucleus of a bromine atom than in the nucleus of a chlorine atom.

Bromine has more protons which makes its nuclear charge greater.

There is stronger attraction on bond pair of electrons which will make C-Br bond stronger and less reactive.

This does not explain why 2-bromopropane is more reactive hence statement 4 is not correct.

We can now go through the options and determine the answer to this question is option B (statements 2 and 3).

Topic: Halogenoalkanes, Organic Chemistry, A Level Chemistry, Singapore

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