What scientists do that is the basis for their investigation
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Answer:
The alkyl halide is secondary
The nucleophile is a poor nucleophile
The solvent is a protic solvent
The product is racemic
Explanation:
The reaction is shown in the image attached.
Alkyl halides undergo nucleophilic substitution by two mechanisms; SN1 and SN2. The particular mechanism that applies depends on;
I) structure of the alkyl halide
ii) nature of the nucleophile
iii) nature of the solvent
Looking at the reaction under review, we can see from the structure that the alkyl halide is a secondary alkyl halide. A secondary alkyl halide may undergo substitution via SN1 or SN2 mechanism depending on the conditions of the reaction.
If the nucleophile is poor, and the solvent is protic, SN1 mechanism is favoured over SN2 mechanism. Since CH3CH2OH is a poor nucleophile and ethanol is a protic solvent, we expect the reaction to proceed via SN1 mechanism leading to the formation of a racemic product.
The organic product is also shown in the second image attached.
