Unlike most other electrophilic aromatic substitutions, sulfonation is often reversible (see Section 17-4). When one sample of toluene is sulfonated at 0 °C and another sample is sulfonated at 100 °C, the following ratios of substitution products result:
a. Explain the change in the product ratios when the temperature is increased.
b. Predict what will happen when the product mixture from the reaction at 0 °C is heated to 100 °C.