Paragraph 1: The goal of this experiment was to study the SN1 reaction mechanism using 2-bromo-2-methylpropane and sodium iodide in acetone. An SN1 reaction involves the formation of a carbocation intermediate. 2-bromo-2-methylpropane was used as the substrate since the tertiary carbocation formed would be stable. Sodium iodide served as the nucleophile and acetone was used as the solvent to stabilize the carbocation.
Paragraph 2: The reaction was monitored over several time intervals by removing aliquots and analyzing by gas chromatography. The