Question

if i mass 1.0 g of t-butyl chloride and find its moles using its molecular weight, and then dilute it to 100mL using 50:50 mixture of propanol and water, should the moles of t-butyl chloride change when i dilute it? explain. please be clear and provide some detail.

Answer 1

When you dissolve a solute in water and no chemical reaction occurs then the number of moles of solute will not change upon dissolution. For example, if you start with 180 g (1 mole) of solid glucose and dissolve it in water, then the number of moles of glucose will remain same i.e 1 mole.

But the situation is different when chemical reaction takes place. When we dissolve t-butyl chloride in 50:50 mixture of propanol and water, there are chances that t-butyl chloride will hydrolyse to t-butyl alcohol.

$(CH_3)_3C-Cl +H_2O \xrightarrow { \displaystyle \text { hydrolysis }} (CH_3)_3C-OH+HCl$

Since t-butyl chloride is consumed during reaction, the number of moles of t-butyl chloride will decrease.