Asked by Jenn

If sodium bromoacetate is used instead of sodium chloroacetate, how will the rate of reaction be affected?
Answered by GK
What reaction? It would be nice to know.
Answered by Jenn
oops wrong area

Anyway the reaction is
sodium 4-chlorophenolate + chloroacetate ion --> 4-chlorophenoxy-acetic acid
Answered by Jenn
Okay, so I was thinking since this is an SN2 reaction, the leaving group would be Cl- or Br- when using either alkyl halide. The rate would increase because Br- is a weaker base than Cl- (because SN favors weak bases as a leaving group).

Can someone correct me if I'm wrong?
Answered by Annie
Jenn is correct.
Rates of all reactions ( SN2, SN1, E1, and E2) increase if the leaving group has a better ability to part. The leaving group trend increases as you go down the periodic table of halogens.
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