Ethene

This video takes a fairly detailed look at the preparation of industrial alcohol by the hydration of ethene using phosphoric acid catalyst on a bed of diatomacious earth. It provides a flow diagram of the industrial plant, looks at the catalysed electrophilic addition mechanism mechanism, examines the equilibrium considerations and mentions the conversion of acetylene (also present in the mixture) to ethanol.

This video begins by preparing ethene from ethanol and then reacting it with bromine in bromine water. Later, it moves on to consider the mechanism of the reaction - electrophilic addition. The main aim to help you learn to trace the movement of electrons in the 2-step mechanism and to learn to present the mechanism using so-called "curly arrows". Note that while ethene is reacted with bromine water at the start of the video - the mechanism looks at the reaction between ethene and pure bromine!