Oxidation and Reduction Reactions

What are oxidation and reduction reactions?

Two important types of reactions in organic chemistry are oxidation and reduction reactions. The oxidation and reduction reactions occur when electrons are lost or gained, respectively, in a chemical substrate, resulting in an increase/decrease in its oxidation state. As a result, the functional groups of the molecule are transformed into others with a different oxidation state.

Oxidation reactions involve the loss of electrons by a molecule, resulting in an increase in its oxidation state. One common example of an oxidation reaction is the oxidation of alcohols to aldehydes or ketones using an oxidizing agent such as potassium dichromate (K2Cr2O7) or Jones reagent (chromium trioxide in sulfuric acid). In this reaction, the alcohol loses electrons and is converted to a carbonyl compound..

Another example of an oxidation reaction is the Baeyer-Villiger oxidation, in which a ketone is oxidized to an ester using hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and a peroxyacid catalyst. This reaction is often used to convert cyclohexanone to caprolactone, which is a building block for the synthesis of polymers..

Reduction reactions involve the gain of electrons by a molecule, resulting in a decrease in its oxidation state. One common example of a reduction reaction is the reduction of aldehydes or ketones to alcohols using a reducing agent such as lithium aluminum hydride (LiAlH4) or sodium borohydride (NaBH4). In this reaction, the carbonyl compound gains electrons and is converted to an alcohol..

Another example of a reduction reaction is the hydrogenation of alkenes using a catalyst such as nickel (Ni) or palladium (Pd). This reaction converts the alkene to an alkane by adding a hydrogen molecule (H2) to the alkene..

In this section, we list the most significant named organic reactions classified according to the type of chemical reaction. Among the named organic reactions of the type oxidations and reductions we can highlight the following:

Back to the Named Organic Reactions and Chemical Reagents page.

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