[ignatius111]

Hello, I´m working in a biologic lab and i got a question about chemistry reaction:

Well i need to know if it is a REDOX reaction and in this case what is the electronical balance:

I got 2,3,5- trihydroxybenzoate for descarboxilation to: 1,2,4- trihydroxybenzene + CO2

thanks so much

[orgopete]

Although this could appear to be so, I think it is not. The carboxylate carbon, after reaction is carbon dioxide. The benzene ring goes from a carbon-carbon bond to a carbon-hydrogen bond. If we were to add water to carbon dioxide, then we might draw an analogy to an hydrolysis reaction. If an ester were hydrolyzed, a C-OR bond is hydrolyzed with water and the C-OR bond is replaced with C-OH on carbon and HOR on oxygen.

In this example if water were added, the C-CO₂H bond is replaced with C-H and HOCO₂H ( H₂O + CO₂).

The reaction does not involve water. I simply used it as an analogy to an hydrolysis reaction. Since hydrolysis is not a redox reaction, I was drawing an analogy of this reaction to an hydrolysis reaction by introducing a phantom water. Carbon dioxide is the product.