Which of the following nitro-alkane doesn’t react with nitrous acid?
Which of the following nitro-alkane doesn’t react with nitrous acid?
  1. 2-methyl-2-nitropropane
  2. 2-nitropropane
  3. Nitroethane
  4. 1-nitropropane

Solution: 2-methyl-2-nitropropane

The structure of 2-methyl-2-nitropropane is as follows:

 

 

We can see that 2-methyl-2-nitropropane is a tertiary nitroalkane. Tertiary nitroalkanes do not react with nitrous acid due to the absence of alpha Hydrogen