Question

Hydrolysis of aromatic amide gives:
a) Acids
b) Amines
c) Alcohols
d) None of the above

Answer 1

Hint: Amides are carboxylic acid derivatives that are derived by addition of amine on the OH group. The hydrolysis reaction involves the reverse of above reaction and thus results in formation of molecules with lowest pH range.

Complete answer:
First, let us see what hydrolysis is. The hydrolysis is the addition of water to a chemical compound that results in breakdown of the molecule.
The amide group is one that has an $O = C - N{H_2}$ group linked to a carbon chain. The aromatic amide molecule contains $O = C - N{H_2}$ group linked to any aromatic ring.
The simplest example of aromatic amide is benzamide. The $O = C - N{H_2}$group is substituted on the benzene ring.
When any aromatic amide undergoes hydrolysis, it results in formation of carboxylic acid and ammonium chloride. The reaction is written as -
$ArCON{H_2} + {H_2}O + HCl \to ArCOOH + N{H_4}Cl$

Thus, the correct answer is option (a)

Additional information:
The amide group is protonated by addition of proton on oxygen in the first step. Then the water molecule attacks resulting in formation of tetrahedral intermediate. This tetrahedral intermediate then dissociates to give carboxylic acid and ammonium salt. This is the acidic hydrolysis of amides. There is even possible alkaline hydrolysis of amides in which the hydroxyl group attacks the carbonyl carbon in the first step. Then in the second step, tetrahedral intermediate dissociate to give free amine and carboxylic acid.

Note:
In our body, the proteins and peptides contain amide groups and their hydrolysis is done by proteolytic enzymes. However, there are many more methods of hydrolysis of amides. One is using nitrous acid. Using nitrous acid, the tertiary amides do not react.