What happens when the vapours of a tertiary alcohol (like 2-methyl-2-propanol) are passed over heate — Aldehydes Ketones and Carboxylic Acids Chemistry Question

💡 Solution & Explanation

While primary and secondary alcohols undergo catalytic dehydrogenation over heated Cu at 573 K to form aldehydes and ketones respectively, tertiary alcohols lack an $\alpha$ -hydrogen. Thus, they cannot be dehydrogenated. Instead, the heated Cu catalyst causes dehydration, releasing water to yield an alkene.