Q. Why elimination occurs instead of nucleophilic substitution when ethyl chloride reacts with alcoholic potassium hydroxide?
Ans: Ethyl chloride can undergo both nucleophilic substitution as well as elimination reactions with strong alkali like KOH. When it undergoes nucleophilic substitution, ethyl alcohol is formed as major product When it undergoes with Elimination , Ethene is formed as a major product .. It decides ---- When the reaction is carried out in alcohol, less number of water molecules are available and thus by increasing the chances of attack of OH- ion on ß-hydrogen. -- and help to formation of ALKENE