Final answer:
The question covers the elimination and substitution reaction mechanisms of an alkyl halide with methanol, leading to the formation of an alkene and an ether, respectively. Zaitsev's rule helps predict the major alkene, and an SN2 mechanism describes the substitution resulting in an ether with inverted stereochemistry if applicable.
Step-by-step explanation:
The question pertains to organic chemistry, specifically the reaction of an alkyl halide with methanol under heating conditions. When an alkyl halide reacts with methanol in the presence of heat, two possible reaction pathways can be considered: the elimination (to form an alkene) and the substitution (to form an ether).
In an elimination reaction, the alkyl halide, upon heating, eliminates a halide ion and a hydrogen atom from the adjacent carbon (dehydrohalogenation) to form an alkene. This follows the Zaitsev's rule, which states that the most substituted and stable alkene will be the major product.
The substitution product, on the other hand, involves the replacement of the halide ion by the methoxy (-OCH3) group, forming an ether. This type of substitution is known as an SN2 reaction, where the nucleophile (methanol) attacks the carbon with the leaving group (halide) from the opposite side, leading to an inversion of stereochemistry at the carbon if it is chiral.
If there are asymmetric centers involved, the stereochemistry should be indicated using dashes and wedges to show which groups are coming out of the plane of the paper (wedges) and which are going into the plane of the paper (dashes).