Question

A compound gives no reaction on the silver nitrate test( it was hexane), a positive on 2,4-dnp test(Acetone and butanal), a negative test on the tollens test(acetone), and a negative on brominating test(hexane). what is the compound type?

Answer 1

Silver nitrate test is used to detect the presence of halides in the given compound as the halides in case present will precipitate out on the addition of silver nitrate.If the test is negative we can conclude that the compound doesn't contain halide ions.

A positive result on dnp test shows that compound is either aldehyde or ketone.But as the result is negative for tollens test then we can rule out the possibility of aldehyde.So the compound will be a ketone.

So in order to confirm this its better to perform IODOFORM Test as it indicates the presence of methyl ketones. If the test is positive then the compound is definitely Acetone