Question

Heating carvone with aqueous sulfuric acid converts it into carvacrol. The mechanism involves the following steps:

Answer 1

Answer:

See figure 1

Explanation:

In this question, we have to start with the protonation of the double bond. In carvone we have two double bonds, so, we have to decide first which one would be protonated.

The problem states that the terminal alkene is the one that would is protonated. Therefore, we have to do the protonation in the double bond at the bottom to produce the carbocation number 1. Then, a hydride shift takes place to produce the carbocation number 2. A continuation, an elimination reaction takes place to produce the conjugated diene. Then the diene is protonated at the carbonyl group and with an elimination reaction of an hydrogen in the alpha carbon we can obtain carvacol.