[jorbarrientos]

Hey everyone, i need help with this... they are asking me to form 4-methylpentan-2-one from 4-methylpent-1-ene, but i dont know how to get a cetone from an alkene... the only way i can imagine is using O3 but that doesnt give me the product i want. Thanks

[Guitarmaniac86]

Hey everyone, i need help with this... they are asking me to form 4-methylpentan-2-one from 4-methylpent-1-ene, but i dont know how to get a cetone from an alkene... the only way i can imagine is using O3 but that doesnt give me the product i want. Thanks

What would happen if you hydrolyse the alkene? Can you oxidise the product in anyway?

[jorbarrientos]

I would get an alcohol... and what would happen if i add a strong base?, i mean, would that cause the oxygen to make the double bond i need or it would stay as O-?... if it stayed as O-, what can i do to force the double bonding? is that possible?

[Guitarmaniac86]

What you would do is use acid catalysed hydrolysis. This will give you a secondary carbocation, because it is most stable of the two possible ones that form. Water will attack in to give you a protonated alcohol. Water in solution will remove the proton to give you the secondary alcohol.

At this point, you can use an oxidising agent to oxidise the alcohol to a ketone. There are several oxidising agents you can use to do this, such as potassium dichromate, though this is toxic.

[jorbarrientos]

:O thank you so much, your answer was extremely helpful!! already looked it up and understood what you meant THANKS!