Markquill
Start free

CAIE A Level Chemistry 9701

Nitrogen compounds questions

Exam-style questions on Nitrogen compounds, ordered from foundation to challenge. Pick one, write your answer the way you would in the exam, and it comes back marked against the mark scheme, point by point.

Practise this topic free

Written by Markquill to follow the Cambridge International syllabus. Markquill is independent and is not affiliated with or endorsed by Cambridge International.

  1. Suggest4 marksStandardA student reacts 1-bromopropane with an excess of propylamine in ethanol in a sealed tube and heats the mixture under pressure. State the type of reaction that occurs and the structure of the organic product. Suggest…
  2. Explain4 marksStandardPhenylamine is a weaker base than ethylamine. However, phenylamine reacts with bromine water at room temperature to form a white precipitate. Explain these observations.
  3. Explain4 marksStandardExplain why amides are much weaker bases than amines. Describe how an amide can be prepared from an acyl chloride. Describe the reduction of an amide using LiAlH4.
  4. Explain4 marksStandardA student wants to prepare a primary amine from 1-bromopropane. The student mixes 1-bromopropane with an excess of ammonia dissolved in ethanol and heats the mixture under pressure in a sealed tube. Explain how the…
  5. Suggest4 marksStandardA student adds bromine water dropwise to a sample of phenylamine at room temperature. Suggest what the student would observe and explain why this reaction occurs readily.
  6. Describe5 marksStandardDescribe how ethylamine can be prepared from bromoethane and ammonia. Include the conditions and the equation for the reaction.
  7. Explain4 marksStandardA student prepares a nitrile by reacting 1-bromopropane with potassium cyanide in ethanol and heating the mixture. The nitrile is then hydrolysed with dilute aqueous sodium hydroxide followed by acidification…
  8. Describe5 marksStandardEthanamide can be prepared from ethanoyl chloride, CH3COCl. (a) Describe how ethanamide is prepared from ethanoyl chloride, giving the reagent and conditions. (b) Ethanamide reacts with aqueous sodium hydroxide. State…
  9. Explain4 marksStandardA student prepares a primary amide and a primary amine in the laboratory. She finds that the amine reacts readily with dilute acid to form a salt, but the amide does not. Explain, in terms of the structure of the…
  10. Compare5 marksStandardA student wants to prepare pentanoic acid, CH3CH2CH2CH2COOH, starting from 1-bromobutane, CH3CH2CH2CH2Br. Two possible routes are suggested. Route 1: Heat 1-bromobutane with KCN in ethanol, then hydrolyse the product…
  11. Explain4 marksStandardA student attempts to prepare a carboxylic acid from 1-bromopropane. The student plans to first convert the halogenoalkane to a nitrile, then hydrolyse the nitrile to the carboxylic acid. (a) State the reagent and…
  12. Compare5 marksStandardA student investigates the reaction of 1-bromopropane with ammonia in ethanol under pressure. Two experiments are performed. Experiment 1: Excess ammonia is used. Experiment 2: A 1:1 mole ratio of 1-bromopropane to…
  13. Explain4 marksStandardPhenylamine and ethylamine are both amines. Explain why phenylamine is a weaker base than ethylamine in aqueous solution.
  14. Compare5 marksStandardThe table shows the pKa values for the ionizable groups in glycine and the dipeptide glycylglycine. Substance pKa of -COOH pKa of -NH3+ glycine 2.3 9.7 glycylglycine 3.1 8.2 Compare the isoelectric points of glycine…
  15. Compare5 marksStandardA student plans to prepare propylamine, CH3CH2CH2NH2, by two different routes. Route 1: heating 1-iodopropane with ammonia in ethanol under pressure. Route 2: heating 1-iodopropane with aqueous ammonia in an open…
  16. Suggest4 marksStandardA student prepares 2-hydroxypropanoic acid (lactic acid) from ethanal. Suggest a two-step synthesis, giving the reagent(s) and conditions for each step and the structure of the intermediate.
  17. Compare5 marksStandardCompare the formation of a nitrile from a halogenoalkane with the formation of a hydroxynitrile from an aldehyde. In your answer, include the reagents and conditions used in each case, and the functional group(s)…
  18. Describe5 marksStandardDescribe how a primary amine can be prepared from a halogenoalkane and ammonia, and how a secondary amine can be prepared from a halogenoalkane and a primary amine. In each case give the conditions. State the type of…
  19. Explain4 marksStandardA mixture contains glycine (NH2CH2COOH), glutamic acid (HOOCCH2CH2CH(NH2)COOH), and the dipeptide formed from these two amino acids. At pH 7, explain the ionic forms of each species and predict the direction each would…
  20. Compare5 marksStandardA student wishes to prepare samples of ethylamine, CH3CH2NH2, and diethylamine, (CH3CH2)2NH. Compare the methods available for synthesising these two amines, including reagents and conditions, and discuss the relative…
  21. Explain4 marksStandardExplain, with reference to reagents and conditions, how a secondary amine can be prepared from a primary amine and a halogenoalkane. Also explain why a secondary amine in aqueous solution is a stronger base than a…
  22. Explain4 marksStandardA student prepares propylamine by heating 1-bromopropane with excess ammonia in ethanol under pressure. The resulting mixture contains propylamine, dipropylamine, and tripropylamine. Explain why a mixture of amines is…
  23. Describe5 marksStandard1-bromopropane can be converted into butanenitrile, which can then be converted into butanoic acid. Describe, with equations, the reactions and conditions needed for: the preparation of butanenitrile from…
  24. Explain4 marksStandardA student mixes aqueous phenylamine (aniline) with ethanoyl chloride at room temperature and expects to obtain an amide. The reaction does not proceed as expected. Explain why.
  25. Describe5 marksStandardDescribe how phenylamine can be prepared from benzene. Include the reagents and conditions for each step, and name the intermediate formed.
  26. Compare5 marksStandardCompare the relative basicities of aqueous ammonia, ethylamine, and phenylamine. Explain the reasons for the differences in basicity.
  27. Suggest4 marksStandardA student wants to prepare methylamine, CH3NH2, from chloromethane, CH3Cl, using ammonia. Suggest the reagents and conditions needed, and write an equation for the reaction.
  28. Compare5 marksStandardEthanamide and ethylamine are both nitrogen-containing compounds. Compare the basicity of these two compounds, and compare their reactions with: (i) aqueous sodium hydroxide (ii) lithium aluminium hydride in dry ether.
  29. Describe7 marksChallengeDescribe the reactions and conditions required for each of the following conversions. (i) Bromoethane into propanoic acid via a nitrile intermediate. (ii) Propanal into 2-hydroxybutanenitrile. Include reagents…
  30. Compare7 marksChallengeA student proposes two routes to obtain ethylamine and diethylamine from ethanamide. Route 1: treat ethanamide with lithium aluminium hydride in dry ether. Route 2: treat ethanamide with lithium aluminium hydride in…
  31. Describe7 marksChallengeDescribe the preparation of phenylamine from benzene, including all reagents and conditions. Describe the reactions of phenylamine with (i) bromine water, (ii) nitrous acid at low temperature, and the subsequent…
  32. Suggest7 marksChallengeA student wants to prepare 2-hydroxy-2-methylpropanoic acid from propanone. Suggest, with equations, a two-step route for this preparation. In your answer include the reagents and conditions for each step.
  33. Describe6 marksChallengeA student prepares butanenitrile, CH3CH2CH2CN, and then hydrolyses separate samples of it under two different conditions. Sample 1 is heated under reflux with dilute hydrochloric acid. Sample 2 is heated under reflux…
  34. Describe7 marksChallengeDescribe the preparation of ethylamine from bromoethane and ammonia. Include in your answer the reagents, reaction conditions, the chemical equation, and an explanation of why an excess of ammonia is used.
  35. Describe7 marksChallengeA mixture containing glycine, lysine, and the dipeptide alanylglycine is placed on an electrophoresis plate at pH 6.0. The isoelectric points of glycine, lysine, and alanylglycine are approximately 6.0, 9.7, and 6.2…
  36. Describe7 marksChallengeA student plans to prepare N-methylpropan-1-amine, CH3CH2CH2NHCH3, a secondary amine. (a) Describe two different synthetic routes to this amine, including the reagents and conditions required for each step. (b)…
  37. Describe7 marksChallengeButanamide, CH3CH2CH2CONH2, can be prepared from butanoyl chloride and can undergo further reactions. (a) Describe two methods by which butanamide can be prepared from butanoyl chloride. In each case state the…
  38. Explain5 marksChallengeA student prepares a solution of benzenediazonium chloride by adding sodium nitrite and dilute hydrochloric acid to phenylamine kept below 10 °C. The student then warms the mixture to about 60 °C and observes that the…
  39. Describe6 marksChallengePhenylamine, C6H5NH2, is a weaker base than aqueous ammonia, which is in turn a weaker base than ethylamine, C2H5NH2. Describe and explain the relative basicities of these three bases.
  40. Describe6 marksChallengeDescribe the reaction of ethanoyl chloride with ammonia, including the conditions, the organic product, the inorganic product, and the type of reaction.
  41. Describe6 marksChallengeA student plans to prepare propylamine, CH3CH2CH2NH2, by heating 1-bromopropane with ammonia in ethanol under pressure. Describe how this reaction occurs, including the role of the ethanol and the reason for heating…
  42. Explain5 marksChallengeEthanenitrile, CH3CN, is reduced by hydrogen in the presence of a nickel catalyst to form a primary amine. State the name and formula of the organic product, and explain, in terms of the structure of the amine, why an…
  43. Suggest7 marksChallengeA student plans to prepare methylamine, CH3NH2, by heating iodomethane with ammonia in ethanol in a sealed tube. (a) Write an equation for the formation of methylamine in this reaction. (b) Suggest why the reaction is…
  44. Compare7 marksChallengeThe relative basicities of three nitrogen-containing compounds can be compared by measuring the pH of equimolar aqueous solutions. The results are shown. Compound pH of 0.1 mol dm⁻³ aqueous solution aqueous ammonia…