Question

Explain the relative reactives of the butyl chloride, sec-butyl chloride, and tert-butyl chloride with ethanolic AgNO3 in term of the structure of the transition state

Answer 1

the reactivities of these species depend on the stablity of their transition state

since it is a nucleophillic reaction and in the cource of reaction alkyl halides act as substrate for nucleophillic substitution so a positively charged intermediate called carbocation is formed. The alkyl halide which bears the most stable intermediate will react more readily compared to others.

in above case tertiary carbocation will be most stable followed by secondary and the primary

so the reactivity orger is

butyl chloride < sec-butyl chloride < and tert-butyl chloride