Question

hydrochloric acid could have been used as the catalyst in this reaction. why is phosphoric acid a better choice for this experiment? hint: are there any possible competing reactions when using hydrochloric acid?

Answer 1

Phosphoric acid is a better choice than hydrochloric acid as a catalyst in an experiment because it is a weaker oxidizing agent. Hydrochloric acid is also volatile and can react aggressively with many building products.

Hydrochloric acid can produce a substitution reaction instead of an elimination reaction. This is because the chloride ion (Cl-) is a strong nucleophile. The Cl- ion will react with the carbocation to form an alkyl halide instead of an alkene.