JEE Chemistry 2025 Question with Solution

Given: A matching question on nucleophilic substitution in aryl halides.

Find: The correct correspondence between the conversions in List-I and the reagents/conditions in List-II.

The reactivity of aryl halides towards nucleophilic substitution increases significantly with the presence of electron-withdrawing groups, especially nitro groups, at ortho and para positions. The more the number of such groups, the milder the conditions required for the substitution reaction.

From the listed conversions:

1. Conversion (A) is chlorobenzene to phenol. Since chlorobenzene has no activating nitro group, it requires very harsh conditions: aqueous NaOH, $623 \, \text{K}$, $300 \, \text{atm}$, followed by acidification. So (A) - (IV).

2. Conversion (B) is converted under conditions NaOH, $443 \, \text{K}$ followed by $\text{H}_3\text{O}^+$. So (B) - (III).

3. Conversion (C) proceeds with NaOH, $368 \, \text{K}$ followed by $\text{H}_3\text{O}^+$. So (C) - (II).

4. Conversion (D) occurs under the mildest condition, warm water, so (D) - (I).

Thus, the correct matching is:

• (A) - (IV)
• (B) - (III)
• (C) - (II)
• (D) - (I)

Therefore, the correct option is C.

Given: Four aryl chloride derivatives are converted to corresponding phenols using different conditions.

Find: Match each substrate with the proper reagent set.

This is a nucleophilic aromatic substitution problem. As the number of nitro groups at ortho/para positions increases, the $\text{C-Cl}$ bond becomes more reactive towards replacement by $\text{OH}^-$.

So the required severity of conditions decreases in the order:

Hence the conditions match from harshest to mildest as follows:

• Harshest: NaOH, $623 \, \text{K}$, $300 \, \text{atm}$, then $\text{H}_3\text{O}^+$ corresponds to (IV)
• Next: NaOH, $443 \, \text{K}$, then $\text{H}_3\text{O}^+$ corresponds to (III)
• Next milder: NaOH, $368 \, \text{K}$, then $\text{H}_3\text{O}^+$ corresponds to (II)
• Mildest: warm water corresponds to (I)

Therefore:

• (A) - (IV)
• (B) - (III)
• (C) - (II)
• (D) - (I)

This corresponds to option C.

Note: Another extracted approach in the source discusses a different intermediate matching pattern, but the solution heading explicitly states The Correct Option is C, and the listed final mapping above is the accepted answer on the page.