Home > Community > Why can NCl3 be hydrolyzed but CCl4 cannot?
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Posted by
Matthew Dubeau

Why can NCl3 be hydrolyzed but CCl4 cannot?

While explaining why $\ce{CCl4}$ cannot be hydrolyzed, we say carbon atom doesn't have any d-orbitals and therefore a water molecule (lone pair electrons of $\ce{O}$ atom) cannot form coordinate bond with carbon. So, $\ce{CCl4}$ cannot be hydrolyzed.In $\ce{NCl3}$, nitrogen also does not have any d-orbital.

Why it can be hydrolyzed?

Is hydrolysis mechanism for $\ce{CCl4}$ and $\ce{NCl3}$ different? If so how they are different?

Again, in some sources I have found, in the case of $\ce{NCl3}$ water forms coordinate bonds with the $\ce{Cl}$ atom and hence the molecule gets hydrolyzed. Why does the same thing thing not happen in $\ce{CCl4}$ which also has a $\ce{Cl}$ atom?