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Worked Examples · Example 9.3

Q.Write structures and IUPAC names of

(i) the amide which gives propanamine by Hoffmann bromamide reaction.
(ii) the amine produced by the Hoffmann degradation of benzamide.
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Hoffmann bromamide degradation converts an amide to a primary amine with one fewer carbon. (i) The amide that gives propanamine is butanamide.

(ii) The amine from benzamide is aniline.

The Concept: Hoffmann Bromamide Degradation

This reaction is a classic method to shorten a carbon chain by one while converting an amide into a primary amine. The key insight: the amide’s carbonyl carbon is removed as carbonate (NaX2COX3\ce{Na2CO3}), so the amine that forms has one less carbon than the starting amide.

The reaction proceeds through a rearrangement — the alkyl group attached to the carbonyl carbon migrates to the nitrogen atom. This means the R group in the amide (R−CONHX2\ce{R-CONH2}) becomes the R group in the amine (R−NHX2\ce{R-NH2}). The carbonyl carbon itself is ejected.

Watch out

A common mistake is to think the amide and amine have the same number of carbons. They do not — the amide always has one more carbon than the resulting amine. Count carefully.


Step-by-step Solution

Part (i): Amide that gives propanamine

1. Identify the target amine.

Propanamine is CHX3CHX2CHX2NHX2\ce{CH3CH2CH2NH2}. It has 3 carbon atoms.

2. Work backwards using the Hoffmann rule.

Since the amide loses one carbon during the reaction, the starting amide must have 4 carbon atoms. The amide’s general structure is R−CONHX2\ce{R-CONH2}, where R\ce{R} is the group that will become the amine’s alkyl group.

For propanamine, the alkyl group is propyl (−CHX2CHX2CHX3\ce{-CH2CH2CH3}). So the amide must be CHX3CHX2CHX2−CONHX2\ce{CH3CH2CH2-CONH2}.

3. Name the amide.

The parent chain is butane (4 carbons). Replace the -e with -amide: butanamide.

The IUPAC name is butanamide (common name: butyramide).

Tip

To double-check: butanamide (CX4HX9NO\ce{C4H9NO}) undergoes Hoffmann degradation to give propanamine (CX3HX9N\ce{C3H9N}) — carbon count drops from 4 to 3. Always verify the carbon count.


Part (ii): Amine from Hoffmann degradation of benzamide

1. Identify the starting amide. …

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