How are the following conversions carried out?
Ethyl chloride to propanoic acid

Explanation

To convert ethyl chloride (C2H5Cl) to propanoic acid (C2H5COOH), we can follow these steps:

### Step 1: Nucleophilic Substitution Reaction
- **Reactants**: Ethyl chloride (C2H5Cl) and potassium cyanide (KCN) in aqueous ethanol.
- **Reaction**: The chloro group in ethyl chloride is replaced by a cyanide group (CN) through a nucleophilic substitution reaction.

\[ \text{C}_2\text{H}_5\text{Cl} + \text{KCN} \rightarrow \text{C}_2\text{H}_5\text{CN} + \text{KCl} \]

- **Product**: This reaction yields ethyl cyanide (C2H5CN) and potassium chloride (KCl).

### Step 2: Hydrolysis of Ethyl Cyanide
- **Reactants**: Ethyl cyanide (C2H5CN) and water (H2O) in the presence of an acid (H+).
- **Reaction**: The cyanide group (CN) undergoes hydrolysis in the presence of water and acid to form propanoic acid (C2H5COOH).

\[ \text{C}_2\text{H}_5\text{CN} + \text{H}_2\text{O} \xrightarrow{H^+} \text{C}_2\text{H}_5\text{COOH} \]

- **Product**: This step converts ethyl cyanide into propanoic acid.

### Final Reaction Summary
1. Ethyl chloride reacts with potassium cyanide to form ethyl cyanide.
2. Ethyl cyanide is then hydrolyzed to form propanoic acid.

### Overall Reaction
\[ \text{C}_2\text{H}_5\text{Cl} + \text{KCN} + \text{H}_2\text{O} \rightarrow \text{C}_2\text{H}_5\text{COOH} + \text{KCl} \]

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