CHAPTER III 

 OXIDATION PRODUCTS OF ALCOHOLS 



ALDEHYDES 



Oxidation may be either the addition of oxygen to a com- 

 pound or the removal of hydrogen from it. When primary 

 alcohols are oxidized, both of these reactions take place suc- 

 cessively, and two important classes of compounds are obtained. 



Compounds in the first of these classes are known as alde- 

 hydes from the two words al^cohol) dehyd{rogenatum). 



Formaldehyde 



When methyl alcohol, CH3OH, is oxidized, the following is the 

 reaction : 



/H /H 



CH3- OH or H- C^H + 0-»H- C^O + H2O 



\0H 



Methyl alcohol Formic aldehyde 



The resulting compound is formic aldehyde or formaldehyde. 



This reaction probably takes place in two steps. First, the 

 oxygen converts one of the hydrogen atoms of the alcohol into 

 a hydroxyl group. The compound resulting contains two hy- 

 droxyl groups united to one carbon atom and by loss of water 

 would yield the aldehyde as follows : 



/H /H /H 



H-C^H +0->H-C^0H-H20->H-C^0 

 \0H \0H 



Methyl alcohol Intermediate compound Formaldehyde 



The fact that the oxidation of hydrogen united to carbon 

 results in the conversion of the hydrogen into hydroxyl is proven 

 by other reactions and is the probable result here. The fact 



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