Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-chemistry-course-of-the-year-1-of-the-natural-sciences-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2024/paper-1/3/c/i/solution

The alcohol is oxidized to cyclohexanone through an alkyl hypochlorite intermediate. Acid converts hypochlorite into electrophilic hypochlorous acid. The alcohol oxygen attacks chlorine, with acid-assisted proton transfers and loss of water giving the O–Cl derivative .
A base such as acetate then removes the hydrogen attached to the carbinol carbon. The three coupled electron-pair motions are: base → H; C–H → C–O to form C=O; and O–Cl → Cl to release chloride. The resulting carbonyl is cyclohexanone. This is an elimination-like oxidation of the hypochlorite ester: the original alcohol oxygen becomes the ketone oxygen, while loss of its O-bound H and the carbinol C-bound H effects the net oxidation.

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