Textbook Question
In the presence of excess base and excess halogen, a methyl ketone is converted to a carboxylate ion. The reaction is known as the haloform reaction
because one of the products is haloform (chloroform, bromoform, or iodoform). Before spectroscopy became a routine analytical tool, the haloform reaction
served as a test for methyl ketones: the formation of iodoform, a bright yellow compound, signaled that a methyl ketone was present. Why do only methyl
ketones form a haloform?
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