asic things about Organic Chemistry I wish someone had told me before! 2.0

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 Oxidation and Reduction


This is another concept which continued to be confusing. The basic idea about oxidation and reduction is given below

For example,



The basic idea behind this concept is taught when we are at school. It is always related to the loss, gain of Hydrogen and Oxygen. In the above reaction, 
  • Aluminium is undergoing the process of reduction as it is losing an Oxygen
  • Hydrogen is undergoing the process of oxidation as it has gained the Oxygen 
 Till here it is quite simple. But loss and gain of electrons gets tad confusing. But there is way you can remember which is which. 

LEO- Loss of Electron: Oxidation 

Reduction is the opposite of the above. For example 

Here, 
  • Aluminium is losing three electrons which implies it is undergoing the process of Oxidation
  • Silver on the other hand is gaining electrons which implies it is undergoing the process of Reduction
That gives you the basic understanding about oxidation and reduction. But, that's not all we have two very important key terms under this concept
  • Oxidising agent
  • Reducing agent 

Let's take the first equation.
 

We know
  • Aluminium is undergoing the process of reduction as it is losing an Oxygen
  • Hydrogen is undergoing the process of oxidation as it has gained the Oxygen 
An oxidising agent supports the process of oxidation. However, it itself undergoes the process of reduction. In the above reaction, Al2O3 acts as an oxidising agent because it itself gets reduced. 

A reducing agent supports the process of reduction. However, it itself undergoes the process of oxidation. In the above reaction, H2 acts as an reducing agent because it itself gets oxidized. 

Bond Fission

Bond fission, as its name suggests, means breaking of bonds. A covalent bond undergoes two types of bond fission.


In homolytic bond fission, each fragment retains one of the originally bound electron which leads to the formation of two free radicals. 

Here, bromine undergoes homolytic bond cleavage in the presence of sunlight and leads to the formation of two bromine free radicals.

In heterolytic bond fission, the electrons go to one of the fragments. This process leads to the formation of ions. The electrons move to the atom which possesses greater electronegativity. 


Here, Cl possesses higher electronegativity than carbon take the electron pair of the bond and gets a negative charge and leaves the carbon with a positive charge. 


These concepts are quite important to understand organic chemistry! Hope this  was of some help to you!

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