Question

Comparing methyl tert-butyl ether and n-butanol:

a. What are the three intermolecular forces found in n-butanol? Which is the strongest?

b. What are the two intermolecular forces found in methyl tert-butyl ether?

c. Which has a bigher boiling point? Explain using intermolecular forces.

d.Which of the two molecules is larger? Are Van der Waals forces an important contributor to the relative boiling points of each? Why or why not?

Answer 1

A). Intermolecular forces present in n-butanol

Van der waals force

Dipole force

Hydrogen bonding

B) Intermolecular forces in methyl terbutyl ether

Van der Waals

Dipole

C) n-butanol has higher boiling point since it has H-bonding in it.

It needs extra energy to overcome this bond and get molecules separated.

In case of methyl ter butyl ether, energy needed to overcome only two intermolecular force so n-butanol has higher boiling point.

D)

Here methly ter butyl ether is larger. Van der waals force is larger in large size molecule but its not applicable here since H bonding has much higher energy than this force.