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Q.Explain Haloform reaction with chemical equation.

Karnataka PUCKarnataka II PUC Board 2024Subjective· 2mImportance★★★★★
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Methyl ketones (and ethanol/ethanal) on treatment with a halogen and alkali give a haloform CHX3\text{CHX}_3 plus a carboxylate salt; the iodoform version is a yellow-precipitate test.

Haloform reaction. Compounds containing the CH3CO−\text{CH}_3\text{CO}- group (methyl ketones), or that are oxidised to it (CH3CH(OH)−\text{CH}_3\text{CH(OH)}-, i.e. ethanol and acetaldehyde), react with a halogen (X2=Cl2,Br2,I2X_2 = \text{Cl}_2, \text{Br}_2, \text{I}_2) in the presence of a base (NaOH) to give a trihalomethane (haloform) and a carboxylate.

Mechanism in brief: the three α\alpha-hydrogens of the methyl group are successively replaced by halogen to give a trihalomethyl ketone; the strongly electron-withdrawing CX3\text{CX}_3 group is then displaced by hydroxide, cleaving the C–C bond to give the carboxylate ion and the haloform.

Example (iodoform reaction of acetone):

CH3COCH3+3I2+4NaOH→CHI3↓+CH3COONa+3NaI+3H2O\text{CH}_3\text{COCH}_3 + 3\text{I}_2 + 4\text{NaOH} \rightarrow \text{CHI}_3\downarrow + \text{CH}_3\text{COONa} + 3\text{NaI} + 3\text{H}_2\text{O} …

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