Sodium bromide and 1-butanol were dissolved water, excess of Sulfuric acid was added to generate Hydrobromic acid. Sulfuric acts as a catalyst, and it also protonates the alcohol, converting it from a bad leaving group into a good leaving group, producing water, and 1-bromobutane as the product. The reaction occurred when there is a good leaving group, primary substrate, solvent, an electrophile and a nucleophile. The goal for this experiment, will be converting 1-butanol to 1-bromobutane using second order Sn2 reaction. Primary alcohols are prepared by heating the alcohol with boiling 47 percent of hydrobromic acid, an excess of sulfuric acid. Bromide is a weak base good nucleophile; the electrophilic carbon is a primary alcohol, which serves
