The Tollens Test for Aldehydes, also known as the Silver Mirror Test, is a great way to confirm if an unknown carbonyl is an aldehyde or not. This occurs by reacting the unknown carbonyl with Silver +1 which gets reduced to metallic silver (Ag 0) when the aldehyde is oxidized to a carboxylic acid.
This video walks you through the Silver Mirror Test and Ag+ to Ag 0 reaction, including the step by step radical mechanism.
(Watch on YouTube: Tollens Test. Click CC on bottom right for transcript.)
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This is video 12 in the Orgo Oxidation/Reduction Series. Click for complete series
Ready to test your redox skills? Try the Redox Practice Quiz and follow along with the Redox Cheat Sheet
Does the test work with the 2-hydroxy-3,5-di-tert benzoic?