On heating an aliphatic primary amine with chloroform and ethanolic potassium hydroxide, the organic…

Reaction of aliphatic primary amine with chloroform and enhanolic potassium hydroxide leads to the formation of isocyanides/ carbylamines. This reaction is called carbylamine reaction.

$\text{R}-{\text{NH}}_2\underset{\text{KOH(alc)}}{\overset{{\text{CHCl}}_3}{\to }}\text{ R - N}\equiv \text{C}$

This is the confirmatory test for primary amines. A foul smelling isocyanide is formed.

$\mathrm{R}\ne -{\mathrm{CH}}_3$