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How can primary alcohols be oxidized to aldehydes?
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aldehyde
Alcohols may be oxidized to give aldehydes, ketones, and carboxylic acids. The oxidation of organic compounds generally increases the number of bonds from carbon to oxygen, and it may decrease the number of bonds to hydrogen.
Primary alcohols can be oxidized to aldehydes, though this process is challenging because aldehydes are easily oxidized further into carboxylic acids. Strong oxidizing agents like chromic acid typically drive this reaction all the way to the carboxylic acid stage.12
To stop the oxidation at the aldehyde stage, chemists use milder, specialized reagents. The most common is pyridinium chlorochromate (PCC). PCC is a complex of chromium trioxide, pyridine, and hydrogen chloride that effectively converts most primary alcohols into aldehydes without continuing the oxidation to a carboxylic acid.1