The key difference between ethyl chloride and vinyl chloride is that ethyl chloride is a saturated compound whereas vinyl chloride is an unsaturated compound.
Ethyl chloride and vinyl chloride are organic compounds containing carbon, hydrogen and chlorine atoms. Both these compounds contain one chlorine atom per molecule. These molecules have closely related chemical structures, but vinyl chloride has a double bond between two carbon atoms while ethyl chloride has a single bond between two carbon atoms.
CONTENTS
1. Overview and Key Difference
2. What is Ethyl Chloride
3. What is Vinyl Chloride
4. Side by Side Comparison – Ethyl Chloride vs Vinyl Chloride in Tabular Form
5. Summary
What is Ethyl Chloride?
Ethyl chloride is an organic compound having the chemical formula C2H5Cl. We also call it chloroethane as a common name. Ethyl chloride is a saturated organic compound; there are no double or triple bonds in this compound. This means we can find only single bonds in this molecule. Furthermore, at room temperature and pressure, ethyl chloride exists as a colourless gas. This ethyl chloride gas has a pungent and ethereal odour. We can produce this compound via hydrochlorination of ethylene.
Figure 01: Structure of Ethyl Chloride
Ethyl chloride has various important applications. It is mainly useful for the production of a gasoline additive – tetraethyllead. However, due to the toxic effects of lead, this additive is not produced at present. In addition, ethyl chloride is important as an ethylating agent, as a refrigerant, as an aerosol spray propellant, an anaesthetic, and as a blowing agent.
What is Vinyl Chloride?
Vinyl chloride is an organic compound having the unsaturated structure of ethyl chloride. In other words, both ethyl chloride and vinyl chloride have closely similar atomicity and atomic arrangements, but they have different covalent bonds between carbon atoms. The general chemical formula for vinyl chloride is H2C=CHCl. Vinyl chloride molecule forms when two hydrogen atoms are eliminated from ethyl chloride molecule by replacing the single bond between two carbon atoms with a double bond.
Figure 02: Structure of Vinyl Chloride Molecule
Vinyl chloride occurs as a colourless gas having a pleasant odour. It is an important industrial chemical that is mainly used for the production of polymers such as PVC. Therefore, this compound is among the largest petrochemicals in world production. However, due to the hazardous nature of vinyl chloride, there are no end products that use vinyl chloride in the monomer form.
There are different ways that we can produce vinyl chloride. For example, including hydrochlorination of acetylene, dehydrochlorination of ethylene dichloride, thermal decomposition of dichloroethane, and cracking reaction of ethane which produces ethylene that can be used to produce vinyl chloride.
What is the Difference Between Ethyl Chloride and Vinyl Chloride?
Ethyl chloride and vinyl chloride are chlorine-containing organic compounds. The key difference between ethyl chloride and vinyl chloride is that ethyl chloride is a saturated compound whereas vinyl chloride is an unsaturated compound. In other words, ethyl chloride contains only single bonds between its atoms while vinyl chloride contains a double bond between two carbon atoms.
Moreover, ethyl chloride has the chemical formula C2H5Cl while the general chemical formula for vinyl chloride is H2C=CHCl.
Below infographic tabulates more differences between ethyl chloride and vinyl chloride.
Summary – Ethyl Chloride vs Vinyl Chloride
Ethyl chloride and vinyl chloride have closely related structures. There are two carbon atoms per molecule in both structures where ethyl chloride has a single bond between them, and vinyl chloride has a double bond. The key difference between ethyl chloride and vinyl chloride is that ethyl chloride is a saturated compound whereas vinyl chloride is an unsaturated compound.
Reference:
1. “Chloroethane.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 4 July 2020, Available here.
Image Courtesy:
1. “Chloroethane-2D” By Maciejo93 – Own work (Public Domain) via Commons Wikimedia
2. “Vinyl-chloride-2D” (Public Domain) via Commons Wikimedia