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How will you bring about the following conversion?
Butan-2-one from propanoic acid.
Answer
Answer
AIEquations: $\mathrm{CH_{3}CH_{2}COOH} + \mathrm{PCl_{5}} \longrightarrow \mathrm{CH_{3}CH_{2}COCl} + \mathrm{POCl_{3}} + \mathrm{HCl}$ $2\mathrm{CH_{3}CH_{2}COCl} + \mathrm{(CH_{3})_{2}Cd} \longrightarrow 2\mathrm{CH_{3}CH_{2}COCH_{3}} + \mathrm{CdCl_{2}}$
Propanoic acid is converted to propanoyl chloride with $\mathrm{PCl_5}$, which reacts with dimethylcadmium to give butan-2-one (ethyl methyl ketone).
From ISC 2025 Practice Chemistry, question 53(a).