Question

Give reason: Acidic nature of alkynes is used to distinguish between terminal and nonterminal alkynes.

Answer 1

• Acidic alkynes react with certain heavy metal ions like Ag⁺ and Cu⁺ and form insoluble acetylides.
• On addition of acidic alkyne to the solution of AgNO₃  in alcohol, it forms a precipitate, which indicates that the hydrogen atom is attached to triply bonded carbon.

Hence, this reaction is used to differentiate terminal alkynes and non-terminal alkynes.