You arc given an unknown compound which you found to be insoluble in water, but

Question

You arc given an unknown compound which you found to be insoluble in water, but soluble in 5% NaOH and 5% NaHCO_3. You arc pretty sure that you are working with a carboxylie acid, however, you keep in mind that certain phenols could also be soluble in NaHCO_3 To determine whether your unknown is in fact a carboxylie acid or a phenol, you decide to run the ferric chloride test. After adding the ferric chloride reagent to your unknown, you observe a very faint orange-yellow color. Based on this result, could you determine with certainty that your unknown is a carboxylie acid?

Explanation / Answer

Yes, this may be carboxylic acid because, phenols will typically yield dramatic purple, blue, red, violet or green color as an indication of a positive test.

But FeCl3 will also indicate the presence of aliphatic acids (that is, non-aromatic organic acids, such as Acetic acid) turning the solution a yellow color (as given orange-yellow color).

Related Questions

Navigate

• Browse (All)
• Browse Y
• Subjects

---

---

Integrity-first tutoring: explanations and feedback only — we do not complete graded work. Learn more.