When methyl bromide is treated with sodium tert-butoxide, the compound formed is: |
Diethyl ether tert-Butyl methyl ether Diethyl bromide Methyl propyl ether |
tert-Butyl methyl ether |
The correct answer is option 2. tert-Butyl methyl ether. When methyl bromide (\(\text{CH}_3\text{Br}\)) is treated with sodium tert-butoxide (\(\text{Na}^+\text{(t-BuO)}^-\)), the reaction is likely to produce tert-butyl methyl ether. This is because sodium tert-butoxide is a strong base and a good nucleophile, which can facilitate the formation of an ether through an \(S_N2\) reaction mechanism. Sodium tert-butoxide (\(\text{t-BuO}^-\)) acts as a nucleophile and attacks the methyl bromide (\(\text{CH}_3\text{Br}\)). In this reaction, the tert-butoxide ion displaces the bromide ion (\(\text{Br}^-\)) from methyl bromide. The result of this nucleophilic substitution is the formation of tert-butyl methyl ether (\(\text{t-BuOCH}_3\)). The reaction can be summarized as:
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