[joomlab]

What exactly is happening with the electrons when methane is converted to methanol?

I know this is an oxidation reaction and there is a loss of electrons, but how are they distributed? Anyone know of a good visualization of this?

[magician4]

though from the viewpoint of the carbon this might be considered to be an oxidation reaction, for the molecule as a whole it isn't: it's just an insertion of atomar oxygen into one of the C-H bonds

so, for the molecule as a whole there is no electron loss whatsoever


regards

Ingo

[joomlab]

Thanks!

So how does this release energy then and produce a higher oxidation level for the carbon?

[joomlab]

*Ignore me, I am impatient*

[magician4]

So how does this release energy then (...)

there are many pathways to release energy, but more often than not it's in the form of heat

(...) and produce a higher oxidation level for the carbon?

to put it simple: everytime you connect two atoms of different electronegativity, the electron distribution inbetween them will become asymmetric.
in a H - C bond, carbon is more electronegative than hydrogen, and if you wish, you might say that hence carbon will have "oxidized" the hydrogen (itself becoming reduced thereby as a consequence) : H  H⁺ , C  C^-
replacing H by O , you exchange an element that is less electronegative than carbon with an element that is more electronegative than carbon. hence the respective distribution could be described like this:
C  C⁺ , O  O^-

hence , in the net process, by replacing hydrogen with oxygen, carbon has changed from C^- to C⁺ along the way

that's what we call an "oxidation"

regards

Ingo


p.s.:

*Ignore me, I am impatient*

sure
we're all waiting as fast as we can, aren't we?

[joomlab]

Thanks magician4.