NEET Solved Paper 2018 Question 17

Question: Hydrocarbon [A] reacts with bromine by substitution to form an alkyl bromide which by Wurtz reaction is converted to gaseous hydrocarbon containing less than four carbon atoms. [A] is [NEET - 2018]

Options:

A) $ C{H_3}\text{-C}{H_3} $

B) $ C{H_2}\text{=C}{H_2} $

C) $ CH\equiv CH $

D) $ C{H_4} $

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Answer:

Correct Answer: D

Solution:

  • $\begin{aligned} R-H + Br_2 & \xrightarrow{\text{Substitution}} R-Br + HBr \ R-Br + 2Na & \xrightarrow[\text{Wurtz reaction}]{} R-R + 2NaBr \end{aligned} $ In the substitution reaction, alkanes produce alkyl bromides. In the Wurtz reaction, two alkyl halides react with sodium (Na) metal to form a higher alkane. Since after the Wurtz reaction, the gaseous hydrocarbon has less than 4 carbon atoms, ‘R’ should contain only 1 carbon atom. So, ‘A’ is $ C{H_4} $.