The crystalline solid organic matter was heated with sodium hydroxide. The resulting gas was treated

The crystalline solid organic matter was heated with sodium hydroxide. The resulting gas was treated in the light with chlorine, and then subjected to alkaline hydrolysis. The reaction product is a poisonous liquid that can cause blindness and death of a person. Write the formula and name of the starting substance and make a chain of the described transformations.

The initial solid crystalline organic substance is sodium acetate, CH3COONa. When sodium acetate is fused with alkali, the decarboxylation reaction occurs:

CH3COONa + NaOH (t) = CH4 ↑ + Na2CO3

The methane released during this reaction is chlorinated in the light by a radical mechanism:

CH4 + Cl2 (hv) = CH3Cl + HCl

And the resulting chloromethane, like other haloalkanes, can be subjected to alkaline hydrolysis:

CH3Cl + NaOH (H2O, t) = CH3OH + NaCl

Hydrolysis of chloromethane produces methanol, which is really poisonous and can cause blindness.

Thus, the chain of the described transformations:

CH3COONa (NaOH, t) → CH4 (Cl2, hv) → CH3Cl (NaOH, H2O, t) → CH3OH