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Chemistry · Glossary

What is Oxidation level?

Definition 24.1 University Chemistry — Year 1 · Chapter 24 — Oxidation and Reduction in Organic Chemistry

The oxidation level of a carbon atom is its oxidation number, obtained by the rules of Proposition 13.3: each bond to a more electronegative atom (O, N, halogen) counts +1+1, each bond to hydrogen −1-1, each bond to another carbon 0 (a double bond counts twice).

The oxidation levels of the one-carbon family: methane, methanol, methanal, methanoic acid, carbon dioxide. Each arrow is a two-electron oxidation; read backwards, a reduction.
The oxidation levels of the one-carbon family: methane, methanol, methanal, methanoic acid, carbon dioxide. Each arrow is a two-electron oxidation; read backwards, a reduction.
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