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JEE Advanced levelSingle correct optionDifficulty 3 of 3g2099

Acetamidine, (pKaH about 12.4), is a far stronger base than acetamide (pKaH about ). The best explanation is that

  1. Aprotonation at the imine nitrogen gives a symmetrical amidinium ion in which the charge is shared equally by two nitrogen atoms
  2. Bamidine has a C=O group which withdraws electrons
  3. Cthe amidine nitrogen lone pair is part of an aromatic sextet
  4. Damidines are less sterically hindered than amides

Answer: A

Protonating the sp =NH nitrogen gives , with two equivalent resonance structures sharing the charge between two N atoms, which are better donors than the oxygen of an amide. Acetamide protonates at O to give a less well stabilised cation.
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