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Kaninefat

Can phenol be detected with a ceric ammonium nitrate test?

C V Britton  Follow

I have mentioned CAN test of alcohol and phenol in a previous answer of mine, so I am going to directly quote that:

Genereally, CAN test is done for alcohols which give pink or red colour. But for phenols and phenolic compounds, it gives brown or black color. So, this test helps to differentiate phenols from alcohols

Unfortunately, the source link is broken. :(

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Mdrokon Uzzaman  Follow

With unsubstituted phenol ($\ce{PhOH}$) dark-brown precipitation is formed:

$$\ce{(NH4)2[Ce(NO3)6] + 2 PhOH -> [Ce(NO3)4(PhOH)2] + 2 NH4NO3}$$

Other phenols should produce wine-red solution as expected [1, p. 478]. Also, this and other phenol tests are discussed in [2].

  1. Pavia, D. L. A small-scale approach to organic laboratory techniques, 3rd Ed.; Brooks/Cole, Cengage Learning: Belmont, CA, 2011. ISBN 978-1-4390-4932-7.
  2. Atul, S. The Pearson Guide to Objective Chemistry for the AIEEE; Pearson Education India, 2010. ISBN 978-81-317-3381-3.

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Ian T. Smyth  Follow
Could you please give some examples of the "other phenols"? Would phluoroglucinol work? Or are only monohydroxy derivatives are acceptable?More
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