Oxidation of ketones?

I know ketones are impossible to oxidise at normal conditions, but I heard they can be oxidised at specific conditions. What conditions are they, and what happens to the ketone?

1 Answer
anor277
Nov 24, 2017

Well, I believe they can be oxidized UNDER HIGHLY OXIDIZING conditions....

Explanation:

We take acetone, in which the ipso carbon is #stackrel(+II)C#...

This is in equilibrium with the enol...

#H_3C-C(=O)CH_3 rightleftharpoonsH_2C=C(-O-H)CH_3#

I presume, under strongly oxidizing conditions, the enol could be oxidized to give #CO_2# and #HO(O=)C-CH_3# i.e. #stackrel(+IV)CO_2# and #stackrel(+III)C#.... These conditions would probably include a hot acidic medium, and some vigorous oxidant such as #HMnO_4#, or #H_2Cr_2O_7#...

As far as I know, this oxidation is without much synthetic utility in that you are breaking #C-C# bonds...something which you usually do not want to do.

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