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Give reasons · Q1

Q.Haloarenes are less reactive than haloalkanes.

Maharashtra MsbshseTextbookSubjectiveImportance★★★★★
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✓ Free question

Step 1. State the resonance effect. In a haloarene such as chlorobenzene, one of the lone pairs on the halogen atom conjugates with the ring's pi-electron system, giving resonance structures in which the C-Cl bond gains partial double-bond character. This measurably shortens and strengthens the bond (169 pm in chlorobenzene versus 178 pm in an alkyl chloride) making it harder to break by heterolysis.

Step 2. State why this rules out SN1. SN1 requires the C-X bond to ionise into a stable carbocation. A phenyl cation, formed by loss of X- directly from an aromatic ring carbon, would sit on an sp2 carbon with an empty orbital that is NOT part of the ring's pi-system and so gets no resonance stabilisation at all -- unlike the resonance-stabilised allylic/benzylic carbocations of Problem 10.4. This makes the phenyl cation prohibitively high-energy, ruling out SN1.

Step 3. State why this rules out SN2. SN2 requires the nucleophile to approach from directly behind the leaving group (backside attack). In a haloarene the flat aromatic ring itself physically blocks this backside approach, ruling out SN2 as well.

Step 4. Conclude. With both mechanisms structurally ruled out, ordinary haloarenes are far less reactive towards nucleophilic substitution than haloalkanes, which lack these two blocking effects.

✓Final answer

Resonance (C-X bond strengthened/shortened, phenyl cation not stabilised) plus steric blocking of backside attack by the flat ring together rule out both SN1 and SN2 for an ordinary haloarene.

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