Question

Acetamide on treatment with nitrous acid gives:

• A. Acetic acid
• B. Acetone
• C. Methanol
• D. Methyl amine

Answer 1

Answer: (A)

Primary amides react with nitrous acid to form carboxylic acids with the evolution of nitrogen gas.
$\underset{\text{ Ethanamide}}{C{H}_{3}CON{H}_2}+HONO\to \underset{\text{ Ethanoic acid}}{C{H}_{3}COOH}+N_1+H_{2}O$
In this reaction, nitrogen is eliminated quantitatively and its volume can be easily measured. Therefore, this reaction is used for the quantitative estimation of primary amides.