Q.

A student puts a drop of reaction mixture of a saponification reaction first on a blue litmus paper and then on a red litmus paper. He may observe that:

1 There is no change in the blue litmus paper and the red litmus paper turns white.  
2 There is no change in the red litmus paper and the blue litmus paper turns red.  
3 There is no change in the blue litmus paper and the red litmus paper turns blue.  
4 No change in colour is observed in both the litmus papers.  

Ans.

(3)
Saponification is the alkaline hydrolysis of the fatty acid esters. Hence, the solution is basic, bases with blue litmus gives no colour change. Whereas, on dipping red litmus paper in a mixture of saponification reaction it turns blue