Vinyl chloride is hydrolyzed more slowly than ethyl chloride. Explain.

Answer : Vinyl chloride exhibits resonance and can be represented as a resonance hybrid of the following two structures: resonance structures of vinyl chloride

Due to resonance, the carbon-chlorine bond acquires some double bond character, and therefore, difficult to break.

Structure of ethyl chloride In ethyl chloride, however, the carbon-chlorine bond is a pure single bond, therefore, the C−Cl bond can be cleaved easily.

That is why vinyl chloride undergoes hydrolysis more slowly than ethyl chloride.

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