Question

When tert-butyl alcohol is treated with H₂ ¹⁸O (water containing the heavy isotope ¹⁸O) in the presence of a small amount of acid, and the tert-butyl alcohol is re-isolated, it is found to contain ¹⁸O. Write a curved-arrow mechanism consisting of Bronsted acid-base reactions, Lewis acid-base associations, and Lewis acid-base dissociations that explains how theh isotope is incorporated in the alcohol.

Answer 1