Kushagra Madhukar
Last Activity: 4 Years ago
Dear student,
Please find the answer to your problem.
In Wurtz reaction, dry ether, or acetone usually, acts as a solvent. This is taken because, we want the sodium to react with the halogen in the organic compound. The mechanism involved is free Radical as well as anionic mechanism. If any polar solvent like water is used, it will ionize sodium and may result in some oxides or hydroxides of Na or some other ionic reaction to take place, such that sodium halide is not formed.
Hence, we need a solvent that cannot ionize sodium and let the reaction progress in the way we want it to, and dry ether perfectly fits those requirements.
Hope it helps.
Thanks and regards,
Kushagra