ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Parikh–Doering oxidation

Parikh-Doering oxidation is a big difficult word for a chemical reaction that turns alcohols into a type of compound called ketones. Let's imagine that you are playing with Lego blocks, and you have a blue block that you want to change into a red block. You can't just paint it red, so you need to take it apart and put it back together in a different way.

Similarly, when we want to turn an alcohol into a ketone, we need to take apart some of the atoms in the alcohol and put them back together in a different way. We can't do this with our hands, but we can use chemicals to do it for us.

The chemicals we use are called Oxalyl chloride and Dimethylformamide (DMF). Think of these chemicals like a special tool that can take apart our Lego block and reassemble it in a different way.

When we mix the alcohol with Oxalyl chloride and DMF, a reaction happens. The Oxalyl chloride takes away two atoms from the alcohol and replaces them with two atoms from the DMF. This creates a new compound called an "acetyl chloride".

We then add the acetyl chloride back to the mixture, and it reacts with the remaining alcohol to create a ketone. The ketone is a different type of compound that is useful in many different industries, such as the production of medicines and fragrances.

So, in summary, Parikh-Doering oxidation is a chemical reaction that uses two special tools (Oxalyl chloride and DMF) to turn an alcohol into a ketone, which is useful in many different fields.