Question

Explain how primary ;secondary and tertiary alcohols can be distinguished on the basis of their oxidation products?

Answer 1

Well, primary alcohols are oxidized to aldehydes and then to carboxylic acids....

Explanation:

And we can assign oxidation numbers to the ipso carbon to see the progression....

`Rstackrel(-I)CH_2OHstackrel(-2e^(-))rarrRstackrel(+I)C(=O)Hstackrel(-2e^(-))rarrRstackrel(+III)C(=O)OH`

Normally it is hard to stop at the aldehyde stage, tho it can be done..

And secondary alcohols are oxidized to ketones....

`Rstackrel(0)CHOHR'stackrel()rarrRstackrel(+II)C(=O)R'+2e^(-)`

In each instance we see a two electron oxidation...the oxidant is typically dioxygen, the which is conceived to undergo a corresponding two electron reduction:

`1/2O_2(g) + 2e^(-) rarrO^(2-)`

Complete oxidation results in the formation of `CO_2`, i.e. `C(+IV)`.