Name: Structure of Benzene
Uploaded: 2019-07-19
Duration: 3 min 53 s
Description: Benzene is the most commonly known aromatic compound and is a significant part of gasoline. In this video, we will study the structure and properties of benz...

Question

Why is Wurtz reaction not preferred for the preparation of alkanes containing an odd number of carbon atoms? Illustrate your answer by taking one example.

Accepted Answer

Wurtz reaction is not preferred for the preparation of alkane containing an odd number of carbon atoms due to the formation of a number of products. When two different types of alkyl halides are taken, a mixture of three alkanes with odd and even numbers of carbon atoms are obtained.
For example: 1- chloroethane and 1- chloropropane react with $Na$ in the presence of dry ether. The yield obtained is not good, because three different alkanes; propane, hexane, pentane are formed. $\underset{1 - chloroethane}{{CH}_{3} {CH}_{2} Cl} + \underset{Sodium}{Na} + \underset{1 - chloropropane}{Cl — {CH}_{2} {CH}_{2} {CH}_{3}} \to \underset{Propane}{{CH}_{3} {CH}_{2} {CH}_{3}} + \underset{Pentane}{{CH}_{3} {CH}_{2} {CH}_{2} {CH}_{2} {CH}_{3}} + \underset{Hexane}{{CH}_{3} {CH}_{2} {CH}_{2} {CH}_{2} {CH}_{2} {CH}_{3}}$

Why is Wurtz reaction not preferred for the preparation of alkanes containing an odd number of carbon atoms? Illustrate your answer by taking one example.

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