Q.Write reactions to prepare ethanamine from
a. Acetonitrile b. Nitroethane c. Propionamide

Step 1. (a) From acetonitrile (section 13.3.3, Mendius reduction). CH3-C#N, reduced with sodium in ethanol (or alternatively with LiAlH4 in dry ether followed by aqueous acid workup), gives CH3-CH2-NH2 -- ethanamine, with the same 2-carbon count as the starting nitrile.

Step 2. (b) From nitroethane (section 13.3.2). CH3-CH2-NO2, reduced with a metal-acid combination (Sn/HCl, Fe/HCl or Zn/HCl), or by catalytic hydrogenation (H2 over Ni, Pt or Pd), or with LiAlH4 in ether, gives CH3-CH2-NH2 + 2 H2O -- the nitro group's two oxygens are removed as water, but the carbon count is unchanged. …

Applying sections 13.3.3, 13.3.2 and 13.3.4 in turn, each a distinct chapter-covered reduction route to ethanamine starting …

• Confusing route (c)'s amide REDUCTION (section 13.3.4, same carbon count) with Hofmann bromamide DEGRADATION (section 13.3.6, one carbon fewer) -- these both start from an amide but give genuinely different-length products, and only the reduction route (LiAlH4/Na-ethanol) reaches ethanamine from propionamide; Hofmann degradation of propionamide would instead give the one-carbon-shorter ethanamine only if starting from a 3-carbon amide, which propionamide (3 carbons) genuinely is, and that specific answer …