Reagent Definition
A reagent is a compound or mixture that is added to a system in order to initiate or test a chemical reaction. Because the binding of reagents triggers certain reactions to the substance or other related substances, reagents can be used to determine the presence or absence of a specific chemical substance.
Table of Contents
List of Examples of Reagents
Below given is a list of organic and inorganic reagents:
| Name | General Description |
|---|---|
| Acetic acid | It is an organic acid; one of the most basic carboxylic acids. |
| Acetone | It is an organic compound, the most basic example of a ketone. |
| Acetylene | It is a hydrocarbon and the most basic alkyne, widely used as a fuel and chemical building material. |
| Ammonia | inorganic, a precursor to the majority of nitrogen-containing compounds; used in fertiliser production. |
| Ammonium hydroxide | Aqueous ammonia is used in traditional qualitative inorganic analysis. |
| Azobisisobutyronitrile | Organic compound that is frequently used as a foamer in plastics and rubber as well as a radical initiator. |
| Baeyer’s reagent | It is an alkaline potassium permanganate solution; used in organic chemistry as a qualitative test for the presence of unsaturation, such as double bonds. |
| N-Bromosuccinimide | It is used in organic chemistry, radical substitution and electrophilic addition reactions. It also acts as a mild oxidiser, allowing benzylic or allylic alcohols to be oxidised. |
| Butanone (methyl ethyl ketone) | It is an organic compound with similar solvent properties to acetone but a much slower evaporation rate. |
| Butylated hydroxytoluene | It is an organic compound that is fat-soluble and is primarily used as an antioxidant food additive. |
| n-Butyllithium | It is an organolithium reagent that is used as a polymerisation initiator in the manufacture of elastomers such as polybutadiene or styrene-butadiene-styrene (SBS). |
| Carbon disulfide | It is a non-polar solvent that is frequently used as a building block in organic chemistry. |
| Carbon tetrachloride | It is toxic and has low dissolving power. As a result, deuterated solvents have largely replaced it. |
| Carbonyldiimidazole | It is frequently used in the coupling of amino acids for peptide synthesis as well as as a reagent in organic synthesis. |
| Ceric ammonium nitrate | It is an inorganic compound used as an oxidising agent in organic synthesis and a standard oxidant in quantitative analysis. |
| Chloridotris(triphenylphosphine) rhodium (I) | Coordination complex; used in homogeneous alkene-to-alkane catalysis. |
| Chloroform | (deuterated chloroform) is a common organic compound used as a solvent for NMR spectroscopy and as a general solvent. |
| Chromic acid | It is a strong and corrosive oxidising agent, a chromium plating intermediate. |
| Chromium trioxide | chromic acid’s acidic anhydride; primarily used in chrome plating. |
| Collins reagent | It is used to convert primary alcohols to aldehydes selectively. |
| Copper(I) iodide | It is useful in various applications, from organic synthesis to cloud seeding. |
| Dess–Martin periodinane | It is a chemical reagent used to convert primary alcohols to aldehydes and secondary alcohols to ketones. |
| Diborane | It is the primary organic synthesis reagent used in hydroboration. |
| Dicyclohexylcarbodiimide | It is an organic compound whose primary application is to couple amino acids during artificial peptide synthesis. |
| Diethyl azodicarboxylate | It is a valuable reagent that also happens to be quite dangerous because it explodes when heated. |
| Diethyl ether | organic compound; a common laboratory solvent. |
| Dihydropyran | It is a heterocyclic compound used in organic synthesis as a protecting group for alcohols. |
| Diisobutylaluminium hydride | It is a reducing agent that converts esters and nitriles to aldehydes, an organoaluminium compound. |
| Diisopropyl azodicarboxylate | Azodicarboxylic acid diisopropyl ester is a reagent used to synthesise many organic compounds. |
| Dimethyl ether | the most basic ether; a useful precursor to other organic compounds as well as an aerosol propellant. |
| Dimethylformamide | a type of organic compound that is commonly used as a solvent in chemical reactions. |
| Dimethylsulfide | Organosulfur compound used in petroleum refining and petrochemical production processes; acts as a reducing agent in ozonolysis reactions. |
| Dimethyl sulfoxide | an organosulfur compound, a significant polar aprotic solvent capable of dissolving polar and nonpolar compounds. |
| Dioxane | an organic compound that is heterocyclic; classified as an ether. |
| Ethanol | a strong psychoactive drug that is used in alcoholic beverages, thermometers, as a solvent, and as a fuel. |
| Fehling’s reagent | It is used to distinguish water-soluble aldehyde and ketone functional groups. |
| Fenton’s reagent | a hydrogen peroxide and iron catalyst solution used to oxidise contaminants or wastewaters. |
| Formaldehyde | the most basic aldehyde; a key precursor to many other chemical compounds such as polymers and polyfunctional alcohols. |
| Formic acid | the most basic carboxylic acid; frequently used as a source of the hydride ion. |
| Grignard reagents | The most common use is the alkylation of aldehydes and ketones. |
| Hexamethylphosphoramide | a phosphoramide that is used as a polar aprotic solvent and additive in organic synthesis. |
| Hydrazine | It is an effective reducing agent and is used in the Wolff-Kishner reaction to convert carbonyls to their corresponding alkanes. It is used as a foaming agent in the preparation of polymer foams, as well as a precursor to polymerization catalysts and pharmaceuticals, and as an oxygen scavenger in power plants. |
| Hydrazoic acid | It is primarily used for stock solution preservation and as a reagent. |
| Hydrochloric acid | It is a highly corrosive, powerful mineral acid with numerous industrial applications. |
| Hydrofluoric acid | It is a valuable source of fluorine and a precursor to many pharmaceuticals; highly corrosive. |
| Hydrogen peroxide | a bleaching agent that is commonly used as an oxidizer. |
| Imidazole | an aromatic heterocyclic that is a diazole and is classified as an alkaloid. |
| Isopropyl alcohol | The most basic type of secondary alcohol; it dissolves a wide range of non-polar compounds. |
| Lime | It is used in power plant flue gas desulphurisation. |
| Limestone | It is used in power plant flue gas desulphurisation. |
| Lithium aluminium hydride | a reducing agent used in organic synthesis to create the main group and transition metal hydrides from metal halides. |
| Lithium diisopropylamide | In organic chemistry, a strong base is used to deprotonate weakly acidic compounds. |
| Manganese dioxide | It is used as a pigment and a precursor to other manganese compounds; used as a reagent in organic synthesis for allylic alcohol oxidation. |
| Meta-Chloroperoxybenzoic acid | It is used in organic synthesis as an oxidant. |
| Methyl tert-butyl ether | a gasoline additive; also used as a relatively inexpensive solvent in organic chemistry. |
| Millon’s reagent | It is a reagent used in analysis to detect the presence of soluble proteins. |
| Nitric acid | A highly corrosive and toxic strong acid that is used in the production of fertilisers, explosives, and as a component of aqua regia. |
| Osmium tetroxide | In organic synthesis, it is commonly used to convert alkenes to vicinal diols. |
| Oxalyl chloride | It is used in organic synthesis to produce acid chlorides from corresponding carboxylic acids. |
| Palladium(II) acetate | a catalyst for many organic reactions by forming reactive adducts with many common classes of organic compounds. |
| Perchloric acid | a strong oxidising agent; easily forms explosive mixtures; primarily used in the manufacture of rocket fuel. |
| Phosphoric acid | a mineral acid with numerous industrial applications; frequently used in the laboratory preparation of hydrogen halides. |
| Phosphorus pentachloride | A chlorinating reagent and one of the most important phosphorus chlorides. It is also used to dehydrate oximes, converting them to nitriles. |
| Phosphorus tribromide | It is used in the transformation of alcohols into alkyl bromides. |
| Phosphorus trichloride | The most important of the three phosphorus chlorides; used in the production of organophosphorus compounds; converted primary and secondary alcohols into alkyl chlorides or carboxylic acids into acyl chlorides. |
| Phosphoryl chloride | It is used in the production of phosphate esters such as tricresyl phosphate. |
| Potassium dichromate | a common inorganic chemical reagent used as an oxidising agent in a variety of laboratory and industrial applications. |
| Potassium hydroxide | a strong base; a precursor to the majority of soft and liquid soaps, as well as a variety of potassium-containing chemicals. |
| Potassium permanganate | a strong oxidising agent that can be used to quantify the total oxidisable organic material in an aqueous sample, a chemical reagent used in the synthesis of organic compounds. |
| Pyridinium chlorochromate | primary alcohols are oxidised to aldehydes, and secondary alcohols are oxidised to ketones. |
| Pyridinium dichromate (Cornforth reagent) | primary and secondary alcohols are converted to ketones. |
| Raney nickel | an alternative catalyst for the hydrogenation of vegetable oils; used for desulphurisation in organic synthesis. |
| Sakaguchi’s Reagent | Checks for the presence of arginine. |
| Samarium(II) iodide (Kagan Reagent) | It is a strong reducing agent. |
| Silver oxide | It is used in the preparation of other silver compounds; used as a mild oxidising agent in organic chemistry. |
| Silver nitrate | It is a precursor to many other silver compounds and is commonly used in inorganic chemistry to abstract halides. |
| Sodium amide | It is used in the industrial production of indigo, hydrazine, and sodium cyanide; used in the drying of ammonia; and used as a strong base in organic chemistry. |
| Sodium azide | Component of airbag systems that produce gas; used in organic synthesis to introduce the azide functional group via halide displacement. |
| Sodium bis(trimethylsilyl)amide | It is a powerful base that deprotonates ketones and esters to produce enolate derivatives. |
| Sodium borohydride | It is a multipurpose reducing agent that converts ketones and aldehydes to alcohols. |
| Sodium chlorite | In organic synthesis, it is used to convert aldehydes to carboxylic acids. |
| Sodium hydride | It is a powerful base that is used in organic synthesis. |
| Sodium hydroxide | Strong base with numerous industrial applications; in the laboratory, it is combined with acids to produce the corresponding salt; it is also used as an electrolyte. |
| Sodium hypochlorite | It is commonly used as a disinfectant or bleaching agent. |
| Sodium nitrite | It is used in the amine-to-diazo compound conversion. |
| Sulfuric acid | strong mineral acid; major industrial application is phosphoric acid production. |
| tert-Butyl hydroperoxide | It is used in a variety of oxidation processes; in industry, it is used as a catalyst for radical polymerization. |
| Tetrahydrofuran | one of the most polar ethers; a useful solvent; its main application is as a polymer precursor. |
| Tetrakis(triphenylphosphine)palladium(0) | a palladium-catalyzed coupling reaction catalyst. |
| Tetramethylammonium hydroxide | a quaternary ammonium salt; used as an anisotropic silicon etching; used as a basic solvent in the photolithography process to develop acidic photoresist. |
| Tetramethylsilane | the most basic tetraorganosilane; a component of organometallic chemistry. |
| Thionyl chloride | an inorganic compound that converts carboxylic acids to acyl chlorides in chlorination reactions. |
| Thiophenol | a sulfur-containing organosulfur compound; the most basic aromatic thiol. |
| Titanium tetrachloride | a chemical intermediate used in the manufacture of titanium metal and titanium dioxide. |
| Tollens’ reagent | a chemical test that determines whether a known carbonyl-containing compound is an aldehyde or a ketone. |
| Triphenylphosphine | a chemical that is used in the synthesis of organic and organometallic compounds. |
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Frequently Asked Questions on Reagent
Q1
Where are reagents used?
Reagents are commonly used in laboratories and in the field to detect the presence of a variety of substances.
Q2
What are named reagents?
Grignard reagent, Tollens’ reagent, Fehling’s reagent, Millon’s reagent, Collins reagent, and Fenton’s reagent are named reagents. However, not all reagents are named with the word “reagent.” Reagents also include solvents, enzymes, and catalysts.
Q3
What is Tollen’s reagent test?
Tollen’s reagent test is used to identify aldehydes and their functional groups, as well as to differentiate them from ketones.
Q4
What is Fehling’s reagent used for?
Fehling’s solution is a chemical reagent that is used to distinguish between water-soluble carbohydrate and ketone functional groups, as well as a test for reducing sugars and non-reducing sugars in addition to the Tollens’ reagent test.
Q5
Are reagents used in the coronavirus test kit?
The reagents used in coronavirus test kits are properly studied for safe and effective applications in biochemical tests, specifically for the accurate detection of specific virus stains using RT-PCR based screening. The reagents used in the rapid antibody test are the patient’s blood, which is used to detect COVID-19 antibodies.
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