Explain Groves’ Process?

The Grove’s method is a method for synthesizing haloalkanes in which  HCl gas is passed through the reaction.

Bimolecular nucleophilic substitution processes are involved in the reaction.

Grove’s process occurs when primary alcohol or secondary alcohol is combined with HCl gas in the presence of anhydrous  ZnCl2 to produce primary and secondary alkyl chloride or chloro-alkane. This reaction follows SN2 mechanism.

For example:

Ethanol reacts with hydrogen chloride to form chloroethane and water.

CH₃CH₂OH + HCl CH₃CH₂Cl + H₂O