Question

Benzene carbaldehyde is reacted with conc. $\text{NaOH}$ solution to give the products $\text{AB}$ . The product $\text{A}$ can be used as a food preservative and the product $\text{B}$ is an aromatic hydroxy compound, where $-\text{OH}$ group is linked to ${\text{sp}}^{\text{3}}$ -hybridised C-atom next to benzene ring. The products $\text{A}$ and $\text{B}$ respectively are

• A. Sodium benzoate and phenol
• B. Sodium benzoate and phenyl methanol
• C. Sodium benzoate and cresol
• D. Sodium benzoate and picric acid

Answer 1

Answer: (B)

When benzene carbaldehyde reacts with $\text{NaOH}$ , it proceeds via Cannizzaro reaction. It is a disproportionation reaction in which half of the molecules of aldehyde are oxidised to carboxylate state and other half are reduced to alcohol state.