What happens when phenol reacts with chloroform in the presence of sodium hydroxide?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 2
The correct answer is option 2. Salicylaldehyde.
When phenol is treated with chloroform (\(CHCl_3\)) in the presence of \(NaOH\), it undergoes a Reimer-Tiemann reaction. In this reaction, phenol reacts with chloroform in the presence of a strong base like sodium hydroxide to form salicylaldehyde as the major product. The Reimer-Tiemann reaction can be represented as:
Mechanism:
It involves electrophilic substitution of the aromatic nucleus, the electrophile being dichloro carbene \((:CCl_2)\) (carbon has only sextet of electrons), formed by the action of strong alkali on chloroform.
