catalytic oxidation of a primary alcohol generally leads to a mixture of aldehyde and carboxylic acid, that of a secondary alcohol to a ketone.
This oxidation is often not complete.
How many different substances do you suspect in the mixture resulting from the catalytic oxidation of the racemic mixture of propan-1,2-diol and which?
This mixture may contain nine different substances (!):
(R) - propane-1,2-diol and (S) - propane-1,2-diol
(R) - 2-hydroxypropanal and (S) - 2-hydroxypropanal
(R) - 2-hydroxypropanoic acid and (S) - 2-hydroxypropanoic acid
hydroxypropanone
2-oxopropanal
2-oxopropanoic acid
(see the → Table organic functions )
