Question.
How would you distinguish experimentally between an alcohol and a carboxylic acid?
How would you distinguish experimentally between an alcohol and a carboxylic acid?
solution:
Sodium bicarbonate test
Take a small amount of each compound in a test tube and add to it an aqueous solution of $\mathrm{NaHCO}_{3}$. The compound which produces brisk effervescence due to the evolution of $\mathrm{CO}_{2}$ must be a carboxylic acid
Sodium bicarbonate test
Take a small amount of each compound in a test tube and add to it an aqueous solution of $\mathrm{NaHCO}_{3}$. The compound which produces brisk effervescence due to the evolution of $\mathrm{CO}_{2}$ must be a carboxylic acid