Reactivity of Ethylene Glycol with Halogen

It is made industrially by combining ethylene oxide with weak hydrochloric acid. Ethane-1,2-diol is transformed to ethylene halohydrins in the presence of strong halogen acids.

Ethylene is added to a cold dilute alkaline permanganate solution to make it. When ethylene is exposed to hypochlorous acid, it is transformed to chlorohydrin. Ethane-1,2-diol was generated by boiling ethylene chlorohydrin with aqueous sodium hydrogen carbonate. By heating ethylene dibromide with aqueous sodium carbonate, it can be made.

Chemical Reactivity of Ethylene Glycol with Halogen

Ethylene oxide combines with halide ions in water to generate halohydrins. Bronsted, Kilpatrick, and Icilpatrick (1) investigated these reactions at 20°C for a range of substituted oxides and found that they occur via both uncatalyzed and acid-catalysed pathways. The reactions that aren’t catalysed did not have a significant impact on the measurements However, in acid solution, the creation of glycol is a significant side reaction, making reliable measurement of the rate of acid-catalysed halide ion addition problematic. Bronsted et al. were able to do similar measurements for the bromide-glycid system by measuring the rate of change in the conductivity of the solution, and discovered that the reaction was of the third order and was dependent on the amounts of oxide, hydrogen ion, and bromide ion. The authors calculated various rate constants for the acid catalysed addition of chloride and bromide ions to ethylene oxide, however the method was time demanding and limited to only one process.

Ethylene oxide structure

Using a small modification of Bronsted’s approach, the rates of halide ion addition were measured. The rates were slow enough that measuring the ratio of glycol to chlorohydrin produced from ethylene oxide in a high excess of acid could be used to estimate the acid-catalysed rates. As Liclitenstein and Twigg point out, this ratio can be approximated by the equation.

GlycolChlorohydrin= k1k2X–

where X– is the concentration of halide ion and k1 and k2 are the rate constants for the acid-catalyzed production of glycol and halohydrin, respectively. The value of k1can be determined independently, and the value of k2 can be inferred from the glycol/halohydrin ratio, on the assumption that these are the only products generated, by employing a significant excess of halide ion to limit concentration variations.

Overview of Ethylene Glycol

Direct ethylene glycol fuel, in which ethylene glycol is oxidised at the anode and oxygen is reduced at the cathode, are appealing options for electric power sources in portable devices like cell phones and laptop computers. When compared to other organic fuels like methanol and ethanol, ethylene glycol has a higher activity, higher energy density, lower volatility, and a higher boiling point. The construction of direct ethylene glycol fuel cells, ethylene glycol electrooxidation in acid and alkaline solutions, cathode catalysts, and operating conditions such as temperature, pH of the electrolytes, and ethylene glycol concentration are all covered in this article.

Ethylene Glycol and Halogen

Ethylene Glycol: 

Ethane-1,2-diol, often known as ethylene glycol, is a colourless viscous liquid having the formula CH2OH2. It is soluble in water and alcohol in all concentrations, but not in ether. It’s commonly used as a solvent and an antifreeze agent. The hydrogen bonding of all hydroxyl groups gives ethylene glycol its high viscosity, boiling point, and solubility in chemistry.

Halogen:

Non Metal halogens (fluorine, chlorine, bromine, iodine, astatine) are highly electronegative and reactive nonmetal elements.

The halogens are a group of non-metal elements in the periodic table’s 17th group (formerly VII). Fluorine (F), chlorine (Cl), bromine (Br), iodine (I), and astatine (A) are halogens (At). A halogen is element 117 (ununseptium), which was synthesised artificially.

Conclusion

This chemical molecule is extremely dangerous. Ethane-1,2-diol or Monoethylene glycol are other names for it. It is odourless and viscous. It has a pleasant taste and is colourless. It looks to be a colourless, transparent liquid. It is frequently used in the plastic industry as an antifreeze and a raw ingredient. When ethylene oxide combines with water, ethylene glycol is formed.

Because it is one of the monomers in polyethylene terephthalate, ethylene glycol has been the most widely manufactured diol. The oxidation of ethylene with O2 to ethylene oxide, followed by the hydration of ethylene oxide to ethylene glycol, is how ethylene glycol is made.