Preparing Alcohols via Reduction

In this section, we will learn how to prepare alcohols through a reduction process. In order to understand what the word reduction means, we must go back and review what oxidation states are. We will do that now  

There are two methods for counting electrons formal charge and oxidation state. These two counting methods actually represent two flipsides of the same coin. To calculate formal charge, we treat all bonds as covalent, regardless of whether they are or not  

When we treat all bonds as covalent, the carbon atom appears to have four electrons of its own. Carbon is supposed to have four valence electrons. When we compare how many electrons carbon actually has with the number of electrons it is supposed to have, we see that everything is just right in this case. It is supposed to have four valence electrons, and it is clearly using four valence electrons. Therefore, there is no formal charge. 

Treat all electrons as being completely unshared (all Ionic bonds) 

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