In the Reimer-Tiemann reaction, phenol reacts with chloroform in the presence of aqueous sodium hydroxide to form sodium salicylaldehyde as the alkaline product (before the final acidification step). The balanced chemical equation for this transformation is: C ₆ H ₅ OH + CHCl ₃ + x NaOH C ₆ H ₄( ONa )( CHO ) + y NaCl + z H ₂ O The value of the stoichiometric coefficient x is :

Step-by-step solution

To find the stoichiometric coefficient x , we must account for the moles of NaOH consumed in the mechanism: 1. One mole of NaOH is used to deprotonate phenol to form the phenoxide ion. C ₆ H ₅ OH + NaOH C ₆ H ₅ ONa + H ₂ O 2. One mole of NaOH reacts with CHCl ₃ to generate the dichlorocarbene electrophile ( : CCl ₂ ). CHCl ₃ + NaOH : CCl ₂ + NaCl + H ₂ O 3. After the electrophile attacks the ortho position, the intermediate sodium 2-(dichloromethyl)phenoxide is formed. Hydrolysis of the - CHCl ₂ group requires two