Topic 10B Halogenoalkanes
Use this landing page to move between the five Halogenoalkanes revision pages of Topic 10. Each card links to a focused page with inline checks, worked examples and exam-style FAQs.
Choose a Halogenoalkanes Page
Halogenoalkanes have a polar carbon–halogen bond that nucleophiles attack. These pages set out the reaction types and the language of mechanisms, name and classify halogenoalkanes, draw the nucleophilic substitution mechanism with hydroxide, water, ammonia and cyanide, contrast substitution with elimination, and explain the rates of hydrolysis measured with silver nitrate.
Key idea: The halogen is more electronegative than carbon, so the carbon is δ+ and attracts electron-pair donors; but it is the strength of the C–X bond, not its polarity, that sets the rate.
Reaction Types, Mechanisms and Nucleophiles
Organic reaction types and mechanisms: addition, elimination, substitution, oxidation, reduction, hydrolysis, polymerisation, curly arrows, heterolytic fission, electrophiles, nucleophiles and bond polarity.
Start revisingHalogenoalkanes: Naming, Classification and the C–X Bond
Halogenoalkanes: nomenclature and formulae, primary, secondary and tertiary, the polar carbon–halogen bond, bond enthalpies and uses.
Start revisingNucleophilic Substitution Reactions
Nucleophilic substitution of halogenoalkanes: hydroxide, water, ammonia and cyanide as nucleophiles, conditions, products and the curly-arrow mechanism.
Start revisingElimination Reactions of Halogenoalkanes
Elimination of halogenoalkanes: ethanolic KOH, hydroxide as a base, alkene products and isomers, substitution versus elimination.
Start revisingRates of Hydrolysis and Bond Enthalpy
Rates of hydrolysis of halogenoalkanes: the silver nitrate experiment, precipitate colours, bond enthalpy trend for C–Cl, C–Br and C–I, and primary, secondary and tertiary comparison.
Start revisingHow to Use These Pages
Learn the reaction-types page first because every later page uses its vocabulary, then the mechanism page until the two curly arrows are second nature, and use the hydrolysis page with Core Practical 5 (rates of hydrolysis of halogenoalkanes).
Exam focus: Same reagent, different solvent: aqueous KOH substitutes, ethanolic KOH eliminates. Quote bond enthalpies when you explain rates.
Copyright notice: This revision page, including its written explanations, layout and teaching sequence, is produced for Online Learning System by Dr. Mohammed Al-Fatah. It is intended for student revision and may not be copied, redistributed or republished without permission.
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