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When the oxidation of 9-fluorenol (white or colorless) is performed, the major p

ID: 515274 • Letter: W

Question

When the oxidation of 9-fluorenol (white or colorless) is performed, the major product is 9-fluorenone. This is an illustration of the pattern of oxidation of a secondary alcohol to a ketone, which usually is not further oxidized. In the experiment run by enterprising student "S", the following observations were made: 1) the solution after the first addition of NaOCl was a very light yellow; 2) successive additions of the NaOCI did not darken or intensify the color very much or at all- it stayed a very pale yellow; 3) the melting point of the product was observed to be about 145 C If we know that the m.p. of 9-fluorenone is about 83 C and the m.p. of 9-fiuorenol is 154 C then we can best conclude: a) there was a nearly complete oxidation of 9-fluorenol to 9-fIuorenone; b) the sample of 9-fluorenone we made in the reaction had both the wrong color and melting point; c) we only oxidized a small amount of the 9-fluorenol to 9-fluorenone; d) oxidation experiments do not work very well unless we use powerful oxidizing agents like HN03 or HClO4.

Explanation / Answer

The melting point of 9-fluroenol is 154 oC

The melting point of 9furoenone is 83 oC

The solution after addition of NaOCl is pale yellow colour, if the reaction would have taken place the colour should have been disappeared completely,

The melting point of product is 145 oC, melting point is almost same as starting material only with slight decrease

So we can conclude that reaction has taken only to small extent, a small amount of product formed reduces the melting point of unreacted 9-fluorenol as the product has melting point of 83 oC

Therefore the answer is e) we only oxidized a small amount of the 9-fluroenol to 9-fluorenone

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