If I react 3,5-dimethylphenol with NaOH what would my product be? Is this an acid base reaction?
It is analogous to acid/base reaction. You would get the "salt", a phenolate.
Ok so I get the benzene ring with my two methyl groups, and the OH becomes an O- with a Na+ is that correct. and water would be a by product?
Yes.
thank you
When you react 3,5-dimethylphenol (also known as 3,5-xylenol) with NaOH (sodium hydroxide), the product that forms is sodium 3,5-dimethylphenoxide. This reaction is indeed an example of an acid-base reaction.
To understand why, let's break it down step-by-step:
1. 3,5-dimethylphenol has a phenolic -OH group attached to the aromatic ring, which acts as a weak acid.
The structure is:
CH3
|
CH3-C-C-C6H4-OH
|
CH3
2. Sodium hydroxide (NaOH) is a strong base, dissociating in water to form Na+ and OH- ions.
NaOH(s) + H2O(l) -> Na+(aq) + OH-(aq)
3. When 3,5-dimethylphenol reacts with NaOH, the hydroxide ion (OH-) from NaOH acts as a base and removes a hydrogen ion (H+) from the phenolic -OH group of 3,5-dimethylphenol.
The reaction can be shown as:
CH3
|
CH3-C-C-C6H4-OH + NaOH -> CH3
|
CH3
|
CH3-C-C-C6H4-O-Na + H2O
4. The resulting product is sodium 3,5-dimethylphenoxide (CH3-C-C-C6H4-O-Na), which contains the phenoxide ion (C6H4-O-) formed by the removal of a hydrogen ion (H+) from 3,5-dimethylphenol.
So, the reaction between 3,5-dimethylphenol and NaOH forms sodium 3,5-dimethylphenoxide.