Vigorous oxidation of pentan-2-one with concentrated primarily yields which specific mixture of carb — Aldehydes Ketones and Carboxylic Acids Chemistry Question

💡 Solution & Explanation

Popoff's rule states that during the oxidative cleavage of unsymmetrical ketones with strong oxidants, the carbonyl ($>C=O$) group stays preferentially with the smaller alkyl group. In pentan-2-one ($CH_3-CO-CH_2-CH_2-CH_3$), cleavage occurs between $C_2$ and $C_3$. The carbonyl stays with the methyl group to form Acetic acid ($CH_3COOH$), and the remaining 3-carbon chain forms Propanoic acid ($CH_3CH_2COOH$).