15.47

[Michelle Dong 1F]

Write the overall reaction for the following proposed mechanism and identify any reaction intermediates:
For step 1, why is it written as just Cl and for step 2, why is it Cl- (chloride ion)? Why is the chloride ion the intermediate and not Cl?

[Manvir2K]

I think the chloride ion is the intermediate because an intermediate has to be formed during the reaction. Cl already existed before the reaction took place, which is the reason it is not the the intermediate.

[Julie Steklof 1A]

Yes, an intermediate must be formed and consumed in a proposed reaction mechanism.

[Adrian Lim 1G]

I'm not too sure why for step 1, it is just written as Cl instead of Cl-. It might be due to balancing charge, but the solutions manual says that the intermediate is the chloride ION, so I would just stick to Cl-

[Gurkriti Ahluwalia 1K]

ya this could have very well easily been a typo, because it makes sense that in step 1 the Cl- reacts with OH+ just like in the second step. I too treated it as an intermediate.