Which compound forms a white precipitate when added to aqueous silver nitrate? A bromoethane B ethanal C ethanoic anhydride D ethanoyl chloride - AQA - A-Level Chemistry - Question 28 - 2021 - Paper 3

When ethanoyl chloride is added to aqueous silver nitrate, it reacts to form a white precipitate of silver chloride (AgCl). This occurs because ethanoyl chloride is an acyl chloride, which is reactive towards nucleophiles such as the silver ion in silver nitrate. The chemical reaction can be represented as:

ightarrow ext{RCOOAg} + ext{AgCl} $$. In this case, R represents the ethyl group (C2H5) from ethanoyl chloride, leading to the formation of silver chloride which is a white precipitate.