{"id":1773,"date":"2011-07-25T08:27:23","date_gmt":"2011-07-25T13:27:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.masterorganicchemistry.com\/?p=1773"},"modified":"2025-09-24T10:06:19","modified_gmt":"2025-09-24T15:06:19","slug":"calculating-the-oxidation-state-of-a-carbon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.masterorganicchemistry.com\/2011\/07\/25\/calculating-the-oxidation-state-of-a-carbon\/","title":{"rendered":"Calculating the oxidation state of a carbon"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>The Oxidation State Formalism<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>By the end of Gen Chem, calculating oxidation states of different metals should be pretty familiar.<\/p>\n<p>Here&#8217;s what you do for a typical compound like FeCl<sub>3 <\/sub>for instance.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Treat <strong>every bond<\/strong> between the metal and a different atom as if it were an<strong> ionic bond<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>That means the more electronegative elements (like chlorine, say, or oxygen) bear negative charges, and the less electronegative element (such as the metal) bears the positive charge.<\/li>\n<li>If the compound is neutral, the sum of the oxidation states also has to be neutral. (If the compound has a charge, you adjust the oxidation states accordingly so that their sum equals the charge).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>1. Calculating Oxidation States In Inorganic Compounds<\/h2>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-15275\" src=\"https:\/\/www.masterorganicchemistry.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/1-oxidation-state-formalism-oxidation-is-hypothetical-charge-atom-would-have-if-all-bonds-to-atoms-of-different-elements-were-treated-as-ionic.gif\" alt=\"oxidation state formalism oxidation is hypothetical charge atom would have if all bonds to atoms of different elements were treated as ionic\" width=\"600\" height=\"444\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Now here&#8217;s a fun exercise. Try applying the same rules to carbon.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s going to feel a little bit weird. Why? Because there are two key differences.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>First<\/strong>, carbon is often more electronegative (2.5) than some of the atoms it&#8217;s bound to (such as H, 2.2). So what do you do in this case?<\/li>\n<li><strong>\u00a0Secondly,<\/strong> unlike metal-metal bonds, carbon-carbon bonds are ubiquitous. So how do you deal with them?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Two answers.<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>In a C-H bond, the H is treated as if it has an oxidation state of +1. This means that every C-H bond will decrease the oxidation state of carbon by 1.<\/li>\n<li>Any two bonds between the same atom do not affect the oxidation state (recall that the oxidation state of Cl in Cl-Cl (and that of H in H-H) is zero. So a carbon attached to 4 carbons has an oxidation state of zero.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>So unlike metals, which are almost always in a positive oxidation state, the oxidation state of carbon can vary widely, from -4 (in CH<sub>4<\/sub>) to +4 (such as in CO<sub>2<\/sub>). Here are some examples.<\/p>\n<h2>2. Calculating The Oxidation State Of Carbon<\/h2>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-22442\" src=\"https:\/\/www.masterorganicchemistry.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/2-examples-of-oxidation-state-calculation-involving-carbon-.gif\" alt=\"examples-of-oxidation-state-calculation-involving-carbon\" width=\"640\" height=\"1085\" \/><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.masterorganicchemistry.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/oxstate-12.jpg\"><br \/>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<p>(Don&#8217;t forget that this is called a &#8220;formalism&#8221; for a reason. The charge on the carbon isn&#8217;t <strong>really<\/strong> +4 or \u20134. But the oxidation state formalism helps us keep track of where the electrons are going, which will come in handy very soon).<\/p>\n<p>With an understanding of how to calculate oxidation states on carbon, we&#8217;re ready for the next step: understanding <strong>changes<\/strong>\u00a0in the oxidation state at carbon, through reactions known as <strong>oxidations <\/strong>(where the oxidation state is increased), and <strong>reductions<\/strong>\u00a0(where the oxidation state is reduced). More on that next time.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h2><a id=\"quizzes\"><\/a>Quiz Yourself!<\/h2>\n\n<p class=\"p1\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-26714\" src=\"https:\/\/www.masterorganicchemistry.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/quiz-previews\/1495-Front-Image-Only.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"616\" \/><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.masterorganicchemistry.com\/moc-membership\/\"><strong>Become a\u00a0 MOC member<\/strong><\/a> to see the clickable quiz with answers on the back. <\/p>\n\n<p class=\"p1\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-26714\" src=\"https:\/\/www.masterorganicchemistry.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/quiz-previews\/1500-Front-Image-Only.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"616\" \/><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.masterorganicchemistry.com\/moc-membership\/\"><strong>Become a\u00a0 MOC member<\/strong><\/a> to see the clickable quiz with answers on the back. <\/p>\n\n<p class=\"p1\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-26714\" src=\"https:\/\/www.masterorganicchemistry.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/quiz-previews\/1499-Front-Image-Only.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"616\" \/><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.masterorganicchemistry.com\/moc-membership\/\"><strong>Become a\u00a0 MOC member<\/strong><\/a> to see the clickable quiz with answers on the back. <\/p>\n\n<p class=\"p1\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-26714\" src=\"https:\/\/www.masterorganicchemistry.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/quiz-previews\/1599-Front-Image-Only.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"616\" \/><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.masterorganicchemistry.com\/moc-membership\/\"><strong>Become a\u00a0 MOC member<\/strong><\/a> to see the clickable quiz with answers on the back. <\/p>\n\n<p class=\"p1\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-26714\" src=\"https:\/\/www.masterorganicchemistry.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/quiz-previews\/1494-Front-Image-Only.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"616\" \/><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.masterorganicchemistry.com\/moc-membership\/\"><strong>Become a\u00a0 MOC member<\/strong><\/a> to see the clickable quiz with answers on the back. <\/p>\n\n<p class=\"p1\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-26714\" src=\"https:\/\/www.masterorganicchemistry.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/quiz-previews\/1497-Front-Image-Only.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"616\" \/><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.masterorganicchemistry.com\/moc-membership\/\"><strong>Become a\u00a0 MOC member<\/strong><\/a> to see the clickable quiz with answers on the back. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Try applying the rules for calculating oxidation states to carbon. <\/p>\n<p> It&#8217;s going to feel a little bit weird. Why? Because there are two key differences. <\/p>\n<p>First, carbon is often more electronegative (2.5) than some of the atoms it&#8217;s bound to (such as H, 2.2). So what do you do in this case?<br \/>\n Secondly, unlike metal-metal bonds, carbon-carbon bonds are ubiquitous. So how do you deal with them?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15275,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1420],"tags":[251,252,266],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-1773","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alcohols-epoxides-ethers","tag-oxidation","tag-oxidation-state","tag-reduction"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Calculating the oxidation state of a carbon &#8211; Master Organic Chemistry<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.masterorganicchemistry.com\/2011\/07\/25\/calculating-the-oxidation-state-of-a-carbon\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Calculating the oxidation state of a carbon &#8211; Master Organic Chemistry\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Try applying the rules for calculating oxidation states to carbon.   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Gleason). Postdoctoral Associate, 2008-2010, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (M. Movassaghi). Founder, Master Organic Chemistry, 2010-present.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.masterorganicchemistry.com\\\/about\\\/\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.masterorganicchemistry.com\\\/author\\\/james\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Calculating the oxidation state of a carbon &#8211; Master Organic Chemistry","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.masterorganicchemistry.com\/2011\/07\/25\/calculating-the-oxidation-state-of-a-carbon\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Calculating the oxidation state of a carbon &#8211; Master Organic Chemistry","og_description":"Try applying the rules for calculating oxidation states to carbon.   It's going to feel a little bit weird. Why? Because there are two key differences.   First, carbon is often more electronegative (2.5) than some of the atoms it's bound to (such as H, 2.2). So what do you do in this case?  Secondly, unlike metal-metal bonds, carbon-carbon bonds are ubiquitous. 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