Question

How can ethanol be converted into ethanoic acid?

Answer 1

Hint: The conversion of alcohol to carboxylic acid (here, ethanol to ethanoic acid) is the oxidation reaction. For this we need to use suitable oxidising agents, preferably an alkaline solution of potassium permanganate.

Complete answer:
Let us study the reaction taking place while converting ethanol to ethanoic acid;
Ethanol is the primary alcohol with molecular formula $C{{H}_{3}}C{{H}_{2}}OH$ which is used in alcoholic drinks whereas ethanoic acid (also known as acetic acid) is the typical carboxylic acid with molecular formula $C{{H}_{3}}COOH$ which is used as an ingredient in vinegar.
The conversion of ethanol to ethanoic acid is done by the mechanism of oxidation. The steps followed are described as follows;
The primary alcohol i.e, ethanol is oxidised to an aldehyde i.e. ethanal.
Then the aldehyde i.e’ ethanol is converted to an acid i.e, ethanoic acid.
The nascent oxygen is obtained from the oxidising agent used during the reaction; which helps the oxidation. The reaction takes place as follows;
$\begin{align}
  & C{{H}_{3}}C{{H}_{2}}OH+\left[ O \right]\to C{{H}_{3}}CHO+{{H}_{2}}O \\
 & C{{H}_{3}}CHO+\left[ O \right]\to C{{H}_{3}}COOH \\
\end{align}$
Thus, in this way the oxidation of ethanol to ethanoic acid takes place.

Note:
The oxidising agent used can be alkaline solution of potassium permanganate $\left( KMn{{O}_{4}} \right)$ and heat, acidified potassium dichromate$\left( {{K}_{2}}C{{r}_{2}}{{O}_{7}} \right)$ , Jones reagent $\left( Cr{{O}_{3}}/{{H}_{2}}S{{O}_{4}} \right)$ , etc.; adding any one of them can oxidise ethanol to ethanoic acid.
Do note that the alcohol is heated in reflux with excess oxidising agent and also note that the aldehyde formed is the halfway product which prefers to stay in the mixture during the overall reaction.