What is the role of sunlight in the reaction between n-hexane and bromine?

Answer 1

Sunlight wouldn't be enough energy to carry out the reaction between n-hexane and bromine. The energy source, however, may have been written has "hv" as a way to describe the radiation or high-wavelength energy for the reaction, which is possible in a more controlled environment.

In this scenario, the reaction between n-hexane and bromine is a bromination reaction--generation of a bromine radical and attaching one or more bromine molecules to hexane. It is more likely that it will attach to a secondary carbon rather its primary, and its location of attachment between the available secondary carbons would be a mixture.

Answer 2

Sunlight initiates the reaction between n-hexane and bromine, leading to the substitution of a hydrogen atom with a bromine atom in the hydrocarbon chain. This reaction, known as a photochemical halogenation, requires the energy from sunlight to break the bromine molecule into bromine radicals that can react with the n-hexane molecule to form the brominated product.