‹ Back to the paper
How will you bring about the following conversion?
Give a balanced chemical equation to convert methyl cyanide to ethyl alcohol.
Answer
Answer
AIEquations: $\mathrm{CH_{3}CN} + 2\mathrm{H_{2}} \xrightarrow{\text{Na}\text{/}\mathrm{C_{2}H_{5}OH}\text{ }\text{(or}\text{ }\mathrm{LiAlH_{4})}} \mathrm{CH_{3}CH_{2}NH_{2}}$ $\mathrm{CH_{3}CH_{2}NH_{2}} + \mathrm{HNO_{2}} \xrightarrow{\mathrm{NaNO_{2}}\text{/}\text{HCl}\text{,}\text{ }\text{273}\text{ }\text{K}} \mathrm{CH_{3}CH_{2}OH} + \mathrm{N_{2}} + \mathrm{H_{2}O}$
Methyl cyanide is reduced to ethylamine, which is converted to ethyl alcohol with nitrous acid.
From ISC 2018 Chemistry Paper 1, question 14(b).
Check your working with the Chemical equation balancer: balance any equation, ionic and redox ones too, with the atom count on each side.