What alkene would give only a ketone with three carbons as a product of oxidative cleavage?

1 Answer
Jun 3, 2015

The only possible alkene is 2,3-dimethylbut-2-ene.

Explanation:

Oxidative cleavage of an alkene is the conversion of the alkene carbons into separate carbonyl groups.

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We can work backwards from the products and figure out what the alkene must have been.

The only three-carbon ketone is acetone, #("CH"_3)_2"C=O"#.

When we work backwards, we find that the starting material must have been 2,3-dimethylbut-2-ene,

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