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Organic Chemistry – Some Basic Principles And Techniques

Question
CBSEENCH11007428

Why Lassaigne's extract is boiled with concentrated HCl while detecting the presence of nitrogen in the compound ?

Solution

It is boiled with concentrated HCl to dissolve the greenish precipitate of ferrous hydroxide formed by an excess of NaOH with FeSO4, which would otherwise mark the Prussian blue colour.
Fe left parenthesis OH right parenthesis subscript 2 plus space 2 HCl space rightwards arrow space space space FeCl subscript 2 space plus space 2 straight H subscript 2 straight O