Q.Describe how cold, dilute alkaline (Baeyer's reagent) can be used as a test for unsaturation, and state what happens instead with hot, concentrated .
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Start your 14-day free trial to unlock the full solution →With a cold, dilute, alkaline solution of potassium permanganate, an alkene undergoes SYN addition of two hydroxyl groups, one to each double-bond carbon, converting the alkene into a 1,2-diol (vicinal glycol): . As the reaction proceeds, the reagent's own deep purple/pink colour fades and disappears, because the permanganate ion is itself reduced in the process; this visible colour change is used as a simple, fast qualitative test -- Baeyer's test -- to detect the presence of a carbon-carbon double (or triple) bond, since an alkane has no such reactive site and does not decolourise the reagent under these mild, cold conditions. Under much harsher conditions -- hot and CONCENTRATED -- the reaction does not stop at the diol stage but continues to oxidatively CLEAVE the double bond entirely, much as ozonolysis does: a terminal carbon is oxidised all the way to carbon dioxide, a $ …
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