9.6: Oxidative Cleavage of Alkynes
- Page ID
- 67218
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Objectives
After completing this section, you should be able to
- write an equation to represent the oxidative cleavage of an alkyne with potassium permanganate or ozone.
- identify the products that result from the oxidative cleavage of a given alkyne.
- identify the reagents needed to carry out the oxidative cleavage of an alkyne.
- use the results of an oxidative cleavage to determine the identity of an alkyne of unknown structure.
Compare the oxidative cleavage of alkynes with the oxidative cleavage of alkenes, discussed in Section 8.8.
Alkynes, much like alkene, can be cleaved with as powerful oxidizing agents such as ozone or KMnO4. Because triple bonds are generally less reactive than double bonds the yields of the is reaction are sometimes low.
Gentle Alkyne Oxidation
Strong Alkyne Oxidation - Oxidative Cleavage
During strong oxidation with ozone or basic potassium permanganate, the alkyne is cleaved into two products. Because at least one of the reaction products is a carboxylic acid, it is important to consider the acid-base chemistry of the product in the reaction solution. Carboxylic acids are deprotonated in basic solutions to carboxylates. A second reaction step is required to protonate the carboxylate to the neutral form of the carboxylic acid.
Exercise
Draw the bond-line structures for the product(s) of the following reactions.
- Answer
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Oxidative cleavage of alkynes produces carboxylic acids and/or carbon dioxide. Aldehydes are not produced.
Contributors and Attributions
Dr. Dietmar Kennepohl FCIC (Professor of Chemistry, Athabasca University)
Prof. Steven Farmer (Sonoma State University)