What is the product of acetamide and sodium hydroxide?
February 20th, 2023
The products are sodium acetate and ammonia.
The reaction is the basic hydrolysis of an amide.
Hydroxide ion attacks the carbonyl to give a tetrahedral intermediate.
Expulsion of an amide ion gives a carboxylic acid which, in the basic medium, is deprotonated quickly to give a carboxylate ion and ammonia.
The overall equation for the reaction is
##underbrace(“CH”_3″CONH”_2)_color(red)(“acetamide”) + “NaOH” → underbrace(“CH”_3″COONa”)_color(red)(“sodium acetate”) + “NH”_3##