Which is the only alcohol that can be prepared by the indirect hydration of alken?
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Alkene is treated with sulfuric acid to give alkyl sulphate esters. In the case of ethanol production, this step can be written: $\ce{H_2SO_4 + C_2H_{4 }\rightarrow C_2H_5−O−SO_3H}$
Subsequently, this sulphate ester is hydrolyzed to regenerate sulphuric acid and release ethanol:
$\ce{C_2H_{5}−O−SO_3H + H_2O \rightarrow H_2SO_4 + C_2H_5OH}$
This two step route is called the "indirect process".
Only in case of ethane it will produce ethyl alcohol while in case of other alkenes product is according to Markovnikov′s Rule.
Methyl alcohol can't be produced by indirect hydration of alkene.
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