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How can primary alcohols be converted into aldehydes?
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The answer involves lighting liquid on fire.
Primary alcohols can be converted into aldehydes through the process of oxidation.
While strong oxidizing agents like chromic acid typically oxidize primary alcohols all the way to carboxylic acids, stopping the reaction at the aldehyde stage is more challenging because aldehydes are easily oxidized further. To achieve this, chemists use milder, specialized reagents. The most common is pyridinium chlorochromate (PCC), a complex of chromium trioxide, pyridine, and hydrogen chloride. PCC is effective at oxidizing most primary alcohols specifically to aldehydes without continuing the oxidation to a carboxylic acid.1