Question

You have cyclohexene, water, cyclohexanol, and a little sulfuric acid catalyst in a test tube at 60 oC and everything is at equilibrium. Indicate what happens to that equilibrium and why with the following changes. (Note that adding water to an alkene is exothermic) 1) You heat it up to 80 oC. 2) You cool it down to 40 oC. 3) You remove some of the water. 4) You add a little more water. Use your answers to explain how to most successfully make cyclohexanol from cyclohexene, and how to most successfully make cyclohexene from cyclohexanol.

Answer 1

See explanation

Step-by-step explanation:

We can convert cyclohexanol to cyclohexene in the presence of a strong acid such as sulfuric acid catalyst in a test tube at 60 oC by heating up the mixture to about 80 oC. This is a dehydration reaction so water is removed to yield the alkene. A drying agent is used to remove any trace amount of water left in the system. This overall reaction is endothermic.

Also, the reverse is the case when we want to carry out the hydration of cyclohexene to yield cyclohexanol. The overall reaction is exothermic and involves the addition of more water to the alkene and then cooling down the system to about 40 oC.