oxidation state of carbon

[dudewheresmymd]

What do you guys usually do to figure out the oxidation state of carbon?

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[medic86]

Give me an example of what molecule you're trying to calculate it for. :>

 

[dudewheresmymd]

Give me an example of what molecule you're trying to calculate it for. :>

acetone, CH4, carbon dioxide, CCl4, C2H2, acetic acid just trying to figure out how to do it for organic compounds

 

[medic86]

Compounds without charge always have a total oxidation number of zero.

Then you follow the rules in assigning oxidation states: FHO765 (order of precedence), and their respective values in order are -1, +1, -2, -1, -2, -3.

Take acetic acid, for instance (CH3-COOH)

• C-C bonds are equally electronegative, therefore in accounting their oxidation state, they have no effect on each other.
  
• hydrogens take precedence over everything else in the molecule, therefore assign +1 to all Hs.
• oxygens are next in the order of precedence, therefore assign -2 to all Os.
• calculate the oxidation state of the methyl carbon: it is bound to 3 hydrogens (+1 * 3 = +3), therefore it has an oxidation state of -3 (must sum to 0).
• calculate the oxidation state of the carboxylic acid carbon: it is bound to 2 oxygens (one of which has a -2 oxidation state, and the other bound to a hydrogen has a -1 oxidation state (-2 + 1 = -1), therefore this carbon has an oxidation state of +3 (must sum to 0).

Hope this helps!