Why can only primary alcohols be oxidised?

[helloworld123]

?Why can only primary alcohols be oxidised?

[Panicmode]

Secondary alcohols can be oxidised, but only to ketones. Oxidation of an alcohol involves the removal of a C-H bond and the creation of a C-O bond. Tertiary alcohol have no C-H bonds to remove so they cannot be oxidised at all. Secondary alcohols have 1 C-H bond so they can be oxidsed to ketones once. Primary alcohols have 2 C-H bonds so they can be oxidised once to aldehydes and then further to carboxcylic acids.

If this didn't make sense to you, don't worry! I'm pretty sure it's not part of the VCE course.

[helloworld123]

thanks:)