Question #c84fc

1 Answer
Feb 8, 2017

It is probably a matter of cost of the acetyl halide.

Explanation:

All three compounds readily react with amines per the equation

"RNH"_2 + "CH"_3"CO-X" → "RNH-COCH"_3 + "HX"RNH2+CH3CO-XRNH-COCH3+HX

The prices of the halides in US dollars are approximately

"CH"_3"COCl"color(white)(m)"$100/L"CH3COClm$100/L
"CH"_3"COBr"color(white)(m)"$300/L"CH3COBrm$300/L
"CH"_3"COF"color(white)(mll)"$700/L"CH3COFmll$700/L

Chemists like to choose the cheapest reactant that will do the job.

Hence, acetyl chloride is the reagent of choice.