4-Nitrobenzophenone would be expected to undergo reversible addition of amide ion at the carbonyl group and eventually to yield benzoic acid and nitrobenzene if cleavage followed. 2 Benzoic acid was in fact isolated from a somewhat sluggish reaction of 4- nitrobenzophenone and potassamide nn ammonia from which 45% of the ketone was recovered, but no nitrobenzene was detected. This became understandable when it was ...
