An alkene is hydrated with conc sulfuric acid to form which product?

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Multiple Choice

An alkene is hydrated with conc sulfuric acid to form which product?

Acid-catalyzed hydration of alkenes adds water across the double bond to give an alcohol. The conc. sulfuric acid protonates the alkene to form the more stable carbocation, water attacks that carbocation, and deprotonation yields the alcohol. For unsymmetrical alkenes, Markovnikov’s rule applies, so the hydroxyl ends up on the more substituted carbon. That’s why the product is an alcohol, not an ether (which would come from dehydration of alcohols), not an aldehyde (which would require oxidation or hydroformylation), and not the starting alkene.

Acid-catalyzed hydration of alkenes adds water across the double bond to give an alcohol. The conc. sulfuric acid protonates the alkene to form the more stable carbocation, water attacks that carbocation, and deprotonation yields the alcohol. For unsymmetrical alkenes, Markovnikov’s rule applies, so the hydroxyl ends up on the more substituted carbon. That’s why the product is an alcohol, not an ether (which would come from dehydration of alcohols), not an aldehyde (which would require oxidation or hydroformylation), and not the starting alkene.

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