Question

(a). Why are alkyl halides insoluble in water?
(b). Why is butan-1-ol optically inactive but butane-2 ol is optically active in nature?
(c). Although chlorine is an electron withdrawing group yet it is ortho para directing in electrophilic aromatic substitution reaction. Why?

Answer 1

(a). Athough alkyl halides contain a polar `C-X` bond, they are not involved in any intermolecular hydrogen bonding with water. Therefore, these are water insoluble.
(b). Butan-2-ol has a chiral carbon while it is absent in butan-1-ol.