The product of this experiment N,N-Diethyl-m-Toluamide is also known as Deet. Deet is used in a wide variety of insect repellent. Deet works through disrupting the mosquito’s antennae, which is used to detect their prey.
The reaction starts off with the modification of the m-toluic acid with the help of thionyl chlorie. The thionyl chloride bonds to the oxygen on the alcohol at the terminal end of the carboxylic acid. Next, a chloride anion acts as a nucleophile and attacks the carbon attached to the double bonded oxygen. The electrons are kicked up to the oxygen, while the double bond is broken, which gave the oxygen a negative charge. Since oxygen is an electronegative element it does not want to have the negative charge, so the oxygen
