Courses
Courses for Kids
Free study material
Offline Centres
More
Store Icon
Store
seo-qna
SearchIcon
banner

How will you convert the ethanol to acetic acid?

Answer
VerifiedVerified
496.2k+ views
2 likes
like imagedislike image
Hint: Ethyl alcohol or ethanol can be converted to acetic acid by the oxidation reaction. Oxidation means addition of oxygen to the compound or removal of hydrogen or removal of electrons from the compound. Acetic acid is also called ethanoic acid.

Complete step by step answer:
Oxidation of ethanol can be done by treating ethanol with oxidizing agents.
The oxidizing agents used for the oxidation of ethyl alcohol are alkaline potassium permanganate or acidic potassium dichromate.
The oxidation of ethanol involves a two-step process.
In the first step ethanol is going to convert into acetaldehyde. In this step removal of hydrogen from ethanol is going to happen and produces acetaldehyde as a product.
CH3CH2OHEthanolK2Cr2O7CH3CHOAcetaldehyde

In the second step acetaldehyde undergoes again oxidation and forms acetic acid or ethanoic acid as the product. In this step addition of oxygen to acetaldehyde is going to happen and produces acetic acid as the product.
CH3CHOAcetaldehydeK2Cr2O7CH3COOHAcetic acid

We can represent the step process in a single step in the following way.
CH3CH2OHEthanolK2Cr2O7CH3CHOAcetaldehydeK2Cr2O7CH3COOHAcetic acid

Additional Information:
Conversion of ethanol to acetic acid occurs when bottles of wine are left open for a long time due to the oxidation.
Acetic acid reacts with metals and forms hydrogen as the product.
Acetic acid reacts with base and forms salts.
Acetic acid turns blue litmus paper to red litmus paper.

Note: Excess oxidizing agent is used to convert ethanol to acetic acid, if we minimum amount of oxidizing then ethanol converts into acetaldehyde only. Formation of acetaldehyde during the oxidation of ethanol can be easily identified by the sweet smell of acetaldehyde.
Latest Vedantu courses for you
Grade 10 | MAHARASHTRABOARD | SCHOOL | English
Vedantu 10 Maharashtra Pro Lite (2025-26)
calendar iconAcademic year 2025-26
language iconENGLISH
book iconUnlimited access till final school exam
tick
School Full course for MAHARASHTRABOARD students
PhysicsPhysics
BiologyBiology
ChemistryChemistry
MathsMaths
₹34,650 (9% Off)
₹31,500 per year
Select and buy