Comments on: Oxidation and Reduction in Organic Chemistry

By: James Ashenhurst

James Ashenhurst — Sun, 31 Mar 2024 13:24:44 +0000

In reply to Jake Long. Hey Jake, thanks for stopping by. Hope it went well!

By: Jake Long

Jake Long — Fri, 29 Mar 2024 08:32:39 +0000

Saving me before my 8 am orgo exam

By: Best 21 Definition Of Reduction In Chemistry - Edu Learn Tip

Best 21 Definition Of Reduction In Chemistry - Edu Learn Tip — Tue, 11 Oct 2022 16:03:48 +0000

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By: James Ashenhurst

James Ashenhurst — Mon, 15 Apr 2019 17:57:21 +0000

In reply to Sarah. I am so glad you found it useful Sarah. Understanding versus memorizing is the goal!!!

By: James Ashenhurst

James Ashenhurst — Mon, 15 Apr 2019 17:03:03 +0000

In reply to orgtastic. Yes, fixed. Thank you!

By: Sarah

Sarah — Sun, 14 Apr 2019 19:59:45 +0000

Thank you so much. These concepts have never made sense to me and learning ochem had made it harder. This is awesome. I understand now what’s happening instead of just memorizing. Thank you.

By: orgtastic

orgtastic — Wed, 20 Feb 2019 19:53:49 +0000

In reply to James Ashenhurst. I could be having a senior moment, but I think that you mistakenly gave the wrong values. H should count as a -, while electronegative atoms should count as a + (as we are stating this from the view of carbon, correct?). Shouldn't CH3Cl be -2 and acetylene be -1?

By: James Ashenhurst

James Ashenhurst — Mon, 11 Feb 2019 16:03:39 +0000

In reply to Chris G.. Hi Chris - the oxidation state for carbon goes as follows. Start with a value of 0 for the carbon. Each bond to an element of higher electronegativity than C counts as –1. So this would be for O, Cl, F, N, Br, etc. Each bond to another carbon counts as 0. Each bond to an element of lower electronegativity than C counts as +1. This includes atoms such as H, B, and almost all metals. Two quick examples. So CH3Cl would be: start with zero, ~~subtract~~ add 1 for Cl, ~~add~~ subtract 3 for the three hydrogens---> -2. Acetylene (HCCH) would be zero, subtract zero for 3 bonds to carbon, ~~add~~ subtract one for hydrogen ---> -1. [EDIT: fixed, thank you for the comments!]

By: Chris G.

Chris G. — Mon, 11 Feb 2019 00:50:03 +0000

Hi James – In your last four structures, how did you calculate the magnitude of the oxidation states for the carbon atoms? What are the rules or formula you used to determine this? Thanks.

By: Collin

Collin — Mon, 01 Dec 2014 13:45:45 +0000

In reply to Dietmar.

Hey Dietmar, it depends. We can make generalizations, yes, but these aren’t as useful as actually understanding what goes on. Iron rusts with the presence of water and oxygen (i.e. water in the atmosphere) and forms iron(III) oxides. The half reactions are:

Oxidation half-reaction: Fe(s) → Fe2+(aq) + 2e-

Reduction half-reaction: O2(g) + 2H2O(l) + 4e- → 4HO-(aq)

The reduction half reaction is clearly dependent on pH – it involves the formation of hydroxide ion. Given this information, what pH (in general) do you think would favor the formation of rust?