Lesson 1, Topic 1
In Progress
Oxidation reactions
- In an oxidation reaction, one organic compound is oxidised, usually by an inorganic reagent.
- This means that the organic compound can either lose hydrogen or gain oxygen
- Usually the oxygen atoms produced by an oxidising agent are shown using the symbol [O]
Example: Oxidation of ethanol using a mixture of sulfuric acid and potassium dichromate (VI) [O]
- It is important to use [O] to indicate an oxidation agent rather than O2 as that would have indicated that molecular oxygen was used