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JEE Main 2019
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Animated Solution for Chemistry - Organic Chemistry: The major product Y in the following reaction is

Select Answer:

Visualized Solution

Reaction Setup

  • Reactant: Acetophenone

Haloform Reaction

  • is the reagent for the haloform reaction.
  • It oxidizes methyl ketones to carboxylic acids.

Formation of Intermediate X

  • Assuming acid workup, X is Benzoic acid

Activation with

  • converts carboxylic acids to acyl chlorides.

Formation of Benzoyl Chloride

Nucleophilic Acyl Substitution

  • Aniline acts as a nucleophile.

Final Product Y

  • The final product Y is Benzanilide.

The Sigma Insight: Carbonyl Compounds

Solution Diagram

Analyzing the Setup The problem presents a two-step reaction sequence starting with acetophenone, a classic methyl ketone

We are asked to identify the final major product, Y. The first step involves treating acetophenone with sodium hypochlorite (), followed by a two-part second step using thionyl chloride () and aniline ().

The Haloform Cleavage The first reagent, , is the standard reagent for the haloform reaction

When a methyl ketone is treated with sodium hypochlorite, the methyl group is fully halogenated and then cleaved as a haloform—in this case, chloroform ().
The remaining portion of the molecule becomes a carboxylate salt. Although an acidic workup () is not explicitly written in the reaction scheme, it is implicitly required to proceed to the next step. Thus, the intermediate X is benzoic acid ().

Activation and Amide Synthesis In the next phase, benzoic acid is treated with thionyl chloride ()

This is a classic method for converting a stable carboxylic acid into a highly reactive acyl chloride. The hydroxyl group is replaced by a chlorine atom, yielding benzoyl chloride ().
Finally, aniline () is introduced. Aniline acts as a nucleophile, with the lone pair on its nitrogen atom attacking the electrophilic carbonyl carbon of benzoyl chloride. This nucleophilic acyl substitution kicks out the chloride ion, forming an amide bond.
The resulting final product Y is benzanilide (). This perfectly matches option (b).

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