Answer to guide questions

3. How would you rate the oxidizability of aldehydes and ketones: easily oxidizable,
oxidizable, not oxidizable? Justify your answer using specific chemical tests.

In this experiment, Tollens reagent was used to determine the chemical reactivity of
the carbonyl compounds, aldehydes and ketones. To differentiate between the two
compounds, the oxidizability of each was observed based on the formation of silver
mirror as an end product.

The main difference between aldehydes and ketones is the presence of hydrogen
atom in a carbon-oxygen double-bond in the aldehyde, making it a strong reducing agent.
Thus, it is very easy to oxidize. Ketones, on the other hand, do not have a hydrogen
attached to the carbon-oxygen double-bond and are, therefore, resistant to oxidation.

Since Tollens Reagent contains the diamminesilver(I) ion, [Ag(NH3)2]+ made from silver (I)
nitrate solution, adding a drop of sodium hydroxide solution results to a silver (I) oxide precipitate. The
addition of dilute ammonia further redissolves the precipitate.

Given these information, aldehydes are known to be very easily oxidized to yield
carboxylic acids or salts if the reaction is done in a basic media. Ketones are not readily
oxidized. Tollens reagent is a very mild oxidizing agent. As a result, silver mirror may be
produced suggesting a positive reaction. Because the solution is alkaline, the aldehyde
itself is oxidized to salt of a corresponding carboxylic acid. The reaction of Acetaldehyde
with Tollens reagent is:

4. Account for the differences in the reaction of starch, sucrose, and their hydrolysates
with Benedicts reagent.

The Benedicts test accounts for the determination of reducing and non-reducing
sugars. In this experiment, sucrose was identified to be a non-reducing sugar as supported
by its retention of color after being subjected to a hot water bath. In the test, Cu2+ was
reduced to Cu+ and the reducing sugar was oxidized into carboxylic acid as shown on the
equation below:

Hydrolysates from part B of the experiment was also used in the Benedicts Test.
Since these are already products of Hydrolysis, they are now converted into
monosaccharides. For the hydrolysates, only the cellulose retained its color, thus obtained
a negative result. The reaction between the hydrolysates of starch and sucrose with
benedicts reagent differs in color. Sucrose exhibited more greenish tint than that of the
starch but both produces a reddish brown precipitate. With the help of Benedicts reagent,
reducing sugars can be detected. These compounds contains copper (II) ions in alkaline
solution with the addition of sodium citrate which acts as precursor to keep the cupric
ions in the solution. The alkalinity of this test causes the isomeric transformation from
ketoses to aldoses. Hence, monosaccharides and most disaccharides reduce the blue color
of cupric ions into the brick red precipitate of cuprous oxide.