Lesson 3.3.10.2

3.3.10.2 Electrophilic substitution Quiz: AQA Chemistry, Unit 3

20 questions

Written by Revision Ninja · Last reviewed 11 October 2026

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Lesson 3.3.10.2, Electrophilic substitution: 20 multiple choice questions for the AQA Chemistry (7405), Unit 3: Organic chemistry, written with Revision Ninja.

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The 20 questions

  1. Which mixture generates the nitronium ion in nitration?

    • Dilute nitric acid and sodium chloride
    • Ethanoic acid and sulfuric acid
    • Concentrated nitric acid and concentrated sulfuric acid
    • Concentrated nitric acid and sodium hydroxide

  2. What is the electrophile in the nitration of benzene?

    • NO2- (nitrite ion)
    • OH- (hydroxide ion)
    • NO2+ (nitronium ion)
    • H+ (proton)

  3. What electrophile is formed when AlCl3 reacts with ethanoyl chloride in Friedel-Crafts acylation?

    • H+ (proton)
    • CH3CO+ (acylium ion)
    • CH3Cl (chloromethane)
    • AlCl3- (aluminium chloride anion)

  4. Which property of the benzene ring makes it attractive to electrophiles?

    • Its delocalised electron cloud is electron-rich
    • It contains a lone pair on every carbon
    • It has no pi electrons
    • Its carbon atoms carry strong positive charges

  5. What is the major product when methyl benzoate is nitrated?

    • Methyl 4-nitrobenzoate only
    • Methyl 2-nitrobenzoate only
    • Methyl 3-nitrobenzoate
    • Nitrobenzoic acid with the ester removed

  6. In the mechanism of nitration of benzene, what is lost in the final step to restore the aromatic ring?

    • NO2+
    • Cl-
    • OH-
    • H+

  7. What is the product of Friedel-Crafts acylation of benzene with ethanoyl chloride?

    • Benzyl ethanoate
    • Phenylethanoic acid
    • Phenylethanone
    • Phenylethanol

  8. What is the product when benzene is nitrated?

    • Nitrobenzene
    • Benzoic acid
    • Phenylamine
    • Cyclohexane

  9. Why is nitration an important step in synthesis?

    • Nitration always produces a polymer that is easy to recycle
    • Nitration removes all carbon atoms from aromatic rings
    • Nitro compounds can be reduced to amines used in dyes and other products
    • Nitro compounds are the only source of ethanol

  10. Which industrial product is partly made by nitration in the specification?

    • Soap
    • Explosives
    • Polyethene
    • Biodiesel

  11. What species is formed when AlCl3 reacts with CH3COCl in Friedel-Crafts acylation?

    • CH3CO2H and Cl2
    • CH3C=O+ and AlCl4-
    • CH3Cl and AlCl3O
    • CH3COO- and AlCl3

  12. What is the role of concentrated sulfuric acid in nitration?

    • It acts as a solvent that dissolves benzene completely
    • It removes the nitro group from the product
    • It oxidises benzene to phenol
    • It protonates nitric acid, which then loses water to form NO2+

  13. Why is the major product of nitrating methyl benzoate the 3-nitro isomer?

    • The ester group is electron-withdrawing and directs incoming groups to the meta position
    • The ester group blocks the ring from any substitution, so no product is formed at all
    • The ester group is electron-donating and directs to the para position of the ring
    • The nitro group always attaches to the ester oxygen rather than to the benzene ring

  14. After nitration, the crude product is purified by recrystallisation. Which step comes first?

    • Dissolving the crude product in the minimum amount of hot solvent
    • Adding concentrated sulfuric acid to the mixture to remove the nitro group from the ring
    • Filtering the cold crystals under vacuum to collect the pure product before dissolving
    • Measuring the melting point of the crude product before any purification has taken place

  15. What intermediate forms when the benzene ring is attacked by an electrophile?

    • A neutral alkene formed by addition of the electrophile across a ring double bond
    • A positively charged arenium ion delocalised over five carbons
    • A negatively charged carbanion on one carbon that is stabilised by the ring
    • A radical centred on one carbon atom that then combines with the nitronium ion

  16. Which property of the nitration electrophile is most important?

    • It is a neutral radical with an unpaired electron
    • It is a metal cation with a full d shell
    • It is positively charged and electron-deficient
    • It carries a lone pair of electrons on nitrogen

  17. Which functional group is the nitro group?

    • -NO2
    • -NH2
    • -OH
    • -CN

  18. Methyl benzoate (Mr 136) of 2.00 g is nitrated to give 2.50 g of methyl 3-nitrobenzoate (Mr 181). What is the percentage yield?

    • 80%
    • 94%
    • 100%
    • 75%

  19. What is the best definition of an electrophile?

    • A species that accepts a pair of electrons to form a new bond
    • A species that donates a pair of electrons to form a new bond
    • A species that carries a full negative charge only
    • A species that is always a metal ion

  20. Which reagent with ethanoyl chloride gives the acylium electrophile in Friedel-Crafts acylation of benzene?

    • Anhydrous aluminium chloride, AlCl3
    • Potassium manganate(VII), which oxidises the ring to a carboxylic acid group
    • Sodium hydroxide solution, which is used to neutralise the acid after the reaction
    • Concentrated sulfuric acid, which is used as the catalyst in the nitration of benzene

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