Q.The compounds formed at anode in the electrolysis of an aqueous solution of potassium acetate are

Step 1. Electrolysing aqueous potassium acetate (CH3COOK) is a Kolbe electrolysis: at the ANODE, the acetate ion is oxidised, losing an electron and immediately decarboxylating to release CO2 and a methyl radical, CH3COO- --> CH3-dot + CO2 + e-.

Step 2. Two of these methyl radicals then combine (radical-radical coupling, just like the termination step of free-radical halogenation) to give ethane, 2 CH3-dot --> CH3-CH3.

Step 3. So the anode products are ethane (C2H6) AND carbon dioxide (CO2) together -- exactly option (c); at the CATHODE (not asked here), water is reduced to H2 gas plus KOH. …

Recall Kolbe electrolysis's anode mechanism precisely: oxidise the carboxylate, lose CO2 immediately (decarboxylation), then dimerise the resulting alkyl radicals -- the anode ALWAYS …

• Forgetting that CO2 is co-produced at the anode alongside the dimerised alkane -- both form in the same decarboxylation-then-coupling sequence, so an answer option naming only the alkane (or only CO2) is necessarily incomplete. …