Carbon monoxide is readily absorbed by ammoniacal cuprous chloride solution but carbon dioxide is not. Explain .

Explanation

Due to the presence of a lone pair of electrons on carbon in `CO`, in acts as a Lewis base (or ligand) and and thus forms a soluble complex with ammoniacal curpous chloride solution.
`CaCl + NH_(3) + :CO rarr underset("Soluble complex")([Cu(CO)NH_(3)]^(+)) Cl^(-)`
On the other hand, `CO_(2)` does not act as a Lewis base since it does not have a lone pair of electrons on the carbon atom and hence does not dissolve in ammoniacal cuprous chloride solution.