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
