[Skiznibbler]

What does oxidation level mean? The book I'm reading at the moment emphasizes the fact that oxidation levels are not the same thing as oxidation states but they don't explain what oxidation levels are. What exactly are they? Do they have anything to do with oxidation states?

[movies]

Oxidation level are very important to understanding synthetic strategy!

In a fundamental sense, two molecules are at the same oxidation level if you could theoretically convert one into the other without performing an oxidation or reduction reaction.  For example, alkyl halides and alcohols are in the same oxidation level (you could theoretically displace the halide with water to make the alcohol).  However, alkyl halides are in a different oxidation level than ketones because an oxidation reaction would be required after converting the halide to the alcohol.

For organic chemistry, there are 5 important oxidation states for carbon.  Can you name them all?  Also note that organic chemists talk about oxidation levels differently than inorganic chemists.  The ketone oxidation state would probably be called the C²⁺ oxidation state by an inorganic chemist.