Question

why do we expect E2 reaction to produce more 1-butene than E1 reaction?

i asked this question previously and a person just gave an answer that doesn't make sense and i reported him, so please if you know the correct answer only say it so I can give out the best answer

Answer 1

u are Suppose you are trying to get 1-butene from a compound CH₃-CHO-CH, CHory, where, X is a leaving group. The mechanism for El and E2 are - [[1] CH₂ - CH2 - CH2 - CH2 - CH2 - CH2 - CH = CH2 ht +x tra VBO OT, X- CH3 -CH2-CH=CH2

| Ital Hy-dh-CH=CH2. > CH3 -CH-CH=CH2 So, you can see there are two problems with E1 qy It goes via lo carbocation, which is most unstable. so, activation energy is very high for the reaction. ily The carbocationic species is very much unstable and it. undergoes rearrangement via H-shifting. CH3-CH2-CH - CH2 CH₂ - CH2 - CH-CH3. so now more options ( different ß-Hydrogens) are available to the carbocation, so selectively production of t-butene is hampered. This is why E2 is most preferred pathway (in this case),