Chemistry A-Level
Oxidation of primary, secondary and tertiary alcohols
What Oxidation of primary, secondary and tertiary alcohols means in Chemistry A-Level, as defined for OCR.
Definition of Oxidation of primary, secondary and tertiary alcohols
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Reference: OCR
Primary alcohols oxidise to aldehydes and then carboxylic acids, secondary alcohols to ketones, and tertiary alcohols resist oxidation under these conditions.
Topics that use Oxidation of primary, secondary and tertiary alcohols
- Alcohols (OCR A-Level)
Related terms
- acid catalysis
- Acidified dichromate(VI) as oxidising agent
- Balancing redox half-equations
- Controlling oxidation products
- Counting carbon neighbours of the –OH-bearing carbon
- Distillation versus reflux
- Elimination reactions
- Intermolecular hydrogen bonding
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