Question

Question: Draw a stepwise mechanism for the following reaction.

Short answer

Answer

Step-by-step solution

Step-by-Step SolutionStep 1: Dehydration of alcohols

A water molecule is lost during alcohol dehydration, and the resultant product is an alkene. The alcohols get subjected to the E1 or E2 mechanism in alcohol dehydration.

Reaction mechanism

The reaction mechanism forms a primary part of several organic reactions. It displays the various steps involved in a particular reaction. Arrows are employed to specify the electron shift in these reactions.

Stepwise mechanism for the reaction

The given alcohol is secondary alcohol. The dehydration of secondary and tertiary alcohols occurs in three steps, and it is an E1 reaction. The first step involves the protonation of alcohol to form the leading group.

The second step involves the heterolytic cleavage of the C-O bond, leading to the formation of a carbocation.

The third step involves the abstraction of proton from the base of the carbon near to the carbocation.

The secondary carbocation undergoes a 1,2-H shift, leading to the formation of tertiary carbocation, which is stable. The complete mechanism can be given as follows.