Questions tagged [reactivity]
Applied to a chemical species, the term expresses a kinetic property in reference to another species. The tag should be applied to questions seeking answers with respect to the reactivity (or unreactivity) of a certain chemical compound, species, molecular entity and/or functional groups. It must not be applied to questions about the stability of certain chemical species.
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How can I predict if a reaction will occur between any two (or more) substances?
I am new to chemistry and I find it fascinating. I am trying to learn about chemical reactions and I was wondering if there was an easy way to quickly tell if any combination of chemical substances ...
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Rationalising the order of reactivity of carbonyl compounds towards nucleophiles
This is immediately following ron's answer from Why is a ketone more nucleophilic than an ester?
One of the most simplest questions you can ask, how can you rationalise the order of reactivity ...
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Why doesn't copper react with hydrochloric acid while the other metals do?
5) Which one of the following metals does not react with hydrochloric acid?
A. zinc
B. magnesium
C. iron
D. copper
E. aluminium
The right answer must be copper, but why ...
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Friedel–Crafts reaction of phenol
Does phenol undergo Friedel–Crafts reactions or does it react with Lewis acids like aniline does?
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How does HF dissolve glass?
By what mechanism does HF proceed in dissolving glass? Why is it the only acid that has this capability? Is it because of the small size and high electronegativity of fluorine?
user10153
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What determines whether a double displacement reaction will occur?
In normal displacement reactions, reactivity plays a large role and sometimes the reaction doesn't even happen. So is there anything limiting double displacement reactions? For example $\ce{2KI + Pb(...
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Why is gold unreactive when only one electron is in the outer shell?
I've been trying to answer my (high school) daughter's questions about the periodic table, and the reactivity series, but we keep hitting gaps in my knowledge.
So I showed that the noble gases have a ...
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Why do Organolithium or Grignard reagents act as nucleophiles and not as bases with aldehydes and ketones
I've read entire Chapter 14: Organometallic Compounds of Francis Carey's "Organic Chemistry" but I still didn't get an answer to my question.
Quote from the book:
Because of their basicity ...
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Will bridged compounds the undergo SN1 reaction?
$\mathrm{S}_{\mathrm{N}}1$ reaction involves only one molecule in the rate determining step. So, the molecule which undergoes $\mathrm{S}_{\mathrm{N}}1$ reaction should be stable when it forms a ...
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Why does potassium form peroxides but sodium does not?
As we go down the periodic table, Group 1 alkali metals hold their single outer valence electron more loosely, and so reactivity increases. Below potassium (Na, Li), we can store the metal in oil with ...
user467
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Why do the trends in reactivity not apply for francium?
Why is francium not included in the reactivity series?
Why is potassium considered more reactive than francium?
I know that reactivity increases down the group, but why does it not apply here?
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Order of electrophilic substitution
What will be the order of reactivity towards electrophilic substitution in case of the following compounds:
benzene, ethyl benzene, isopropyl benzene, tert-butyl benzene
The answer at the end of the ...
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Why do Grignard reagents or Organolithium compounds not displace halides as easily as acetylide ions do?
This is a snapshot from LG Wade Organic Chemistry. I have a doubt with a particular statement in the book. It says that Grignard reagents do not displace halides as easily as acetylide ions do.
But ...
user14857
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Why is a hydroxyl group more activating than a methoxy group in electrophilic aromatic substitution?
Why is phenol more reactive towards electrophilic substitution than methoxybenzene? Isn't the lone pair on the methoxy group oxygen more available for participating in resonance into the ring than the ...
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Why does N₂ react with O₂ to Form NO at high temperatures?
This also raises questions that I have about the Haber Process which produces ammonia ($\ce{NH3}$) from molecular nitrogen ($\ce{N2}$) and hydrogen ($\ce{H2}$).
I have heard multiple times that bond ...
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Why are beta-ketoacids better at decarboxylation than gamma or delta?
My book claims that beta-ketoacids and beta-dicarboxylic acids are better at decarboxylating than their gamma and delta counterparts. Why is that?
I would assume that since gamma and delta keto-acids ...
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Determination of products in reactions involving carbocation rearrangement?
How do you determine the "migratory aptitude" of various groups during carbocation rearrangements? Is there a experimentally determined order?
For example, what will be the product in case ...
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Do epoxide rings react with bases?
We've learned in class that epoxide ring openings can be catalyized with acids, and I seem to recall either the professor or a classmate mentioning that they also react with bases, but some quick ...
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Is methoxide a better nucleophile than hydroxide?
What is more nucleophilic, $\ce{OH-}$ or $\ce{CH3O-}$?
When I look it from the viewpoint of steric hindrance, the answer seems to be $\ce{OH-}$, but when I see it from the viewpoint of extra electron ...
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Can someone explain the unintuitive ordering in the metallic activity series?
I would understand it if the metallic activity series Li, Cs, Rb, ... Pt, Au corresponded to electronegativity or ionization energy. However, the way it is written, ...
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Comparing SN2 reaction rates
I've read in a book that the main factor for determining SN2 reaction rate is steric hindrance. The lesser it is, the faster the reaction.
So consider this question:
$\ce{KI}$ in acetone undergoes ...
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Dehalogenation of vicinal dihalides
Why, among different metals, only zinc is favourable for the dehalogenation of vicinal dihalides?
user33495
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Why is benzenediazonium fluoroborate water insoluble and stable at room temperature?
Benzenediazonium fluoroborate is water insoluble and stable at room temperature.
Why is this salt, water insoluble? Also I am told that benzenediazonium salts are stable only at low temperature(<5°...
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What noble metal is most resistant to oxidation by diatomic oxygen in air at room and elevated temperatures?
To clarify, by noble metals in this case I mean all platinum metals + gold, no copper, silver or rhenium. These noble metals are described as having low reactivity, but which one is least reactive or ...
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How do we know whether we will get a mono substituted or tri-substituted product during electrophilic aromatic substitution?
For example consider the bromination of phenol we get the tri-substituted product (even though bromine is deactivating so I suppose it should deactivate the ring with each addition) while sulphonation ...
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Why do Grignard reagents react with epoxides but not THF?
THF is used as a solvent for Grignard reagents, but epoxides react with Grignard reagents. There is only a small difference between epoxides and THF, what causes the difference in reactivity towards ...
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Phenol or ethanol as a nucleophile for ether formation?
If we react phenol with $\ce{C2H5I}$ in $\ce{C2H5O- Na+}$ (excess), $\ce{C2H5OH}$ (anhydrous) solutions .
In this reaction why is diethyl ether not formed and the actual product is phenyl ethyl ...
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Why is oxygen an oxidizing agent?
Why are diatomic oxygen molecules STILL reactive especially with metallic elements like sodium and copper even at room temperature?
You would think that since the two oxygen atoms already have the ...
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Rate of EAS in chlorobenzene and fluorobenzene
In both chlorobenzene and fluorobenzene, both the halogens show a −I effect where fluorine has more electron withdrawing effect than chlorine.
Now, if we consider the mesomeric/resonance effect, ...
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Does solid manganese reacts with atmospheric air when heated?
As discussed in my answer, manganese is not particularly reactive to air. The surface of manganese lumps oxidize to a minor extent but when it is finely divided, it becomes pyrophoric and burns in air....
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Why are free radicals so reactive?
Why are free radicals are so reactive? They can break almost any bond, including $\ce{C-H}$ bonds, which are fairly stable. Don’t they have an activation energy or something? Do they not also ...
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Why are silyl chlorides more readily hydrolysed than alkyl chlorides?
I know that the $\ce{Si-Cl}$ bond has a slightly higher energy, but silyl chlorides are much more readily hydrolyzed compared to alkyl chlorides. I do not fully understand why that is. My thoughts so ...
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Oxidation Reactions/Reactivity of Manganese Metal in Air and Water
I am planning on doing some reactions that lead to Manganese metal and a neutral solution containing $\ce{Mn^{2+}}$ as by-products, and I wanted to try some things out with the Manganese as well.
...
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Reactivity of Benzaldehyde between aldehydes [closed]
Are Benzaldehydes less reactive than aldehydes due to the -R Effect of the -CHO group present on the benzene ring?
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Why is caesium considered the most reactive element and not fluorine? [closed]
Some people say caesium is most reactive element. I thought it to be fluorine as it is the element that reacts with almost all elements (except couple of inert gases). But caesium won't react many of ...
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How does ammonium nitrate explode on its own?
I thought ammonium nitrate was an oxidizer that needed to be mixed with fuel to form a high explosive (e.g., ANFO). But apparently there have been accidental explosions involving just the "...
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If aliens lived in a hydrogen (or any flammable gas) based atmosphere, would they perceive oxygen to be flammable?
Energy, fuel, and oxygen are needed for a fire to burn. In a hydrogen chamber, if there was a pipe spewing small amounts of oxygen, could you light the oxygen on fire as it began to mix with the ...
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Why is a ketone more nucleophilic than an ester?
I guess the ester is a weaker nucleophile because it does have an additional oxygen atom, unlike the ketone, that is pulling electrons from the C-O double bond towards the carbon atom (this happens ...
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Is there a way to contain fluorine gas for long term so that it can be visually observed?
Bromine, chlorine and iodine can all be sealed in a glass container for display without the elements reacting with the glass.
But if you try to seal fluorine in glass I believe it will react and fog ...
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Does an acetal give a positive Tollens test?
In Organic Chemistry (Wade) there is a question:
Which of the following compounds would give a positive Tollens' test? (Remember that the Tollens' test involves mild basic aqueous conditions.)
The ...
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Why is phenyl weakly activating?
The susceptibility of a benzene ring to electrophilic attack depends on the type and number of groups bonded to the ring.
Activating groups donate/release electrons and increase the electron density ...
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Which electronic effects are responsible for the reduction of nucleophilicity of a hydroxy group orthogonal to an ester?
I am facing a similar synthetic problem as Boekman Jr. et al noted in their synthesis of Tetronolide.[1] I will quote their’s rather than disclosing my actual synthetic problem, but note that the key ...
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Silver Tarnish and Reactivity Series
I read that silver in the presence of hydrogen sulfide corrodes to form silver sulfide and hydrogen.
$$\ce{Ag + H2S -> Ag2S + H2}$$
But in the reactivity series silver is placed much below hydrogen....
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What does nutella add to the Coke+Mentos reaction?
Inspired by this question on SFF.SE.
The Diet Coke + Mentos experiment has been a popular one for a while now, and I've read a little bit about the science behind it.
I recently discovered this ...
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How can I relate the reactivity series to electronegativity and ionization energy?
I am trying to figure out how the reactivity series comes about. My understanding is that elements with a higher electronegativity will be more reactive than elements with a lower electronegativity, ...
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Reaction between magnesium metal and sodium hydroxide: Does this even happen?
Came across this question in a book:
Among aluminum, zinc, tin and magnesium, which metals (if any) will react with an aqueous solution of sodium hydroxide to displace dihydrogen?
The answer to ...
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If glucose can react with phenyl hydrazine to form osazone why can't it react with 2,4-DNP to give positive test?
If glucose can react with form phenyl hydrazine to form osazone why
can't it react with 2,4-DNP?
Yes I know about cyclic form of glucose and its equilibrium with straight chain and all …
I read ...
user14857
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Why is zinc more reactive than copper?
In terms of electronegativity, from what I understand electronegativity increases going across the period, so surely this should mean that zinc less readily loses its outer shell electrons than copper?...
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Are there stronger oxidizing agents than fluorine gas?
Are there stronger oxidizing agents than fluorine gas, so it could oxidize fluoride to fluorine?
Also, in case of oxygen, fluorine gas can oxidize oxygen gas to the exotic dioxygenyl ion. Can ...
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Which allotrope of phosphorus is kinetically the most stable?
Which allotrope of phosphorus is kinetically the most stable?
I ruled out white and yellow as being quite reactive.
Red and black allotropes are both polymeric and comparitively less reactive.
...
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