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Marcio Da Silva

What test can be used to differ amide and amine?

Brenda Hattingh  Follow

Easiest way is to use TLC(thin layer chromatography) plate and stain with ninhydrin. Ninhydrin colors primary and secondary amines and amides only with vigorous heating when amide bond breaks.

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Andrew White  Follow

From Wikipedia:

While the conjugate acid of an amine has a pKa of about 9.5, the conjugate acid of an amide has a pKa around −0.5. Therefore, amides don't have as clearly noticeable acid-base properties in water.

Therefore, if you are dealing trying to distinguish a water-soluble amide from a water-soluble amine, and neither molecule has other functional groups, you could simply dissolve them in water and then measure the pH. If it's alkaline, it's an amine. If the pH doesn't change much, it's an amide.

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Asma Javed  Follow

I do not know how to distinguish chemically between an amide and an amine based on the reaction with $\ce{NaOH}$ but I can tell you a different way to distinguish between the two kinds of compounds.

An amide on acidic hydrolysis will yield the corresponding carboxylic acid (i.e. with the same number of carbons) as follows. $$\ce{RCONH2->[\ce{H3O+}][\Delta] RCOOH}$$

The carboxylic acid produced can be tested for using the sodium hydrogencarbonate test, in which adding a pinch of $\ce{NaHCO3}$ produces a brisk effervescence due to the evolution of carbon dioxide gas.

$$\ce{RCOOH + NaHCO3->RCOONa + H2O + CO2 ^}$$

So basically, out of the two given compounds, the one that gives you a brisk effervescence when you first hydrolyse it in an acidic medium and then follow it with a pinch of $\ce{NaHCO3}$, is the amide, and the other is the amine.

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Gerardo Aguirre  Follow
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Frank Gasparro  Follow
Yes, that is true. I did not see that earlier.More
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evolvopedia  Follow
adding the hydrogencarbonate, otherwise you will get false positives.More
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Jenni Peach  Follow
You will have to be careful doing this and make sure that you remove all of the acid used for hydrolysis, More
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