[Logan]

So, I am retaking chemistry after 3 years of focusing on Biology and physics so I believe I may have gotten a bit rusty with my basics. As it so happens I am doing a practical on Vitamin C this year which obviously involves both Ascorbic acid and N-bromosuccinimide. From a theoretic stand point I know that ascorbic acid is a powerful reducing agent and NBS is a powerful oxidizing agent. (Ascorbic acid oxidises to dehydro-ascorbic acid and NBS reduces to succinimide.)

The problem is that I can't seem to figure out how to write the redox reaction between Ascorbic acid and NBS. Any help in this area will be greatly appreciated.

Edit: I know that the oxidation half equation should be: C6H8O6 --> C6H6O6 + (2H+) + 2e and the reduction half equation should be: C4H4BrNO2 + (2H+) + 2e --> C4H5NO2

[AWK]

C₆H₈O₆ + C₄H₄BrNO₂ = C₆H₆O₆ + C₄H
₅NO₂ + HBr
(balanced without balancing)

Assign +1 for Br in NBS

[Logan]

C₆H₈O₆ + C₄H₄BrNO₂ = C₆H₆O₆ + C₄H
₅NO₂ + HBr
(balanced without balancing)

Assign +1 for Br in NBS

So the redox reaction is simply C₆H₈O₆ + C₄H₄BrNO₂ = C₆H₆O₆ + C₄H
₅NO₂ + HBr?

[AWK]

C₆H₈O₆ + C₄H₄BrNO₂ = C₆H₆O₆ + C₄H₅NO₂ + HBr
Yes, in this reaction  all coefficients are 1.

[Logan]

C₆H₈O₆ + C₄H₄BrNO₂ = C₆H₆O₆ + C₄H₅NO₂ + HBr
Yes, in this reaction  all coefficients are 1.

Thank you!