Answer:
Which atom is oxidized in the reaction of benzhydrol with bleach?
Explanation:
n this experiment, students will perform a simple oxidation reaction of a secondary
alcohol. Recall that Oxidation Is a Loss of electrons while Reduction Is a Gain of electrons (OIL
RIG). In order to apply this mnemonic, you must know the oxidation states of each atom within
the compound, with particular interest on carbon. Carbon can carry oxidation states ranging
from -4 to +4. A few examples are shown in Figure 1 below. It is also common for carbon to
carry an oxidation state of -3, -1, +1, and +3.
Figure 1. Examples of carbon’s oxidation levels.
You may have noticed that all of the compounds in Figure 1 are neutral and carbon has
zero formal charge in each example. The concept of oxidation state and formal charge are
similar with one important difference in the calculation. Both are calculated by taking the
difference between the valence electrons (from the periodic table) and the number of electrons
belonging to that atom within the molecule. For a given atom, the valence electrons will never
change but the electrons ‘belonging’ the atom in the molecule will vary depending on number of
lone pairs and attachments to more or less electronegative atoms. The important difference in
the calculation of oxidation states and formal charge is based on the following assignment of
bonding electrons (Figure 2). This is how the highlighted carbon in ethanol can have an
oxidation state of -1 but a formal charge of zero.
- Oxidation states assign bonding electrons to the more electronegative atom in a bond,
except when the two atoms are the same and the bonding electrons are split equally.
