Reducing agent chemical species in charge of reducing to another substance, since it donates electrons and causes another substance to be reduced, when making this donation of electrons this substance is oxidized so we can say that the reducing agent is the substance that oxidizes.
Summary
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- 1 Reduction
- 1 Aluminum and Carbon Monoxide
- 2 Hydrogen
- 3 External links
- 4 Sources
Reduction
There is a chemical method known as oxidation-reduction reaction, or also called as redox reactions, this reaction is considered as electron transfer reactions consisting of two semi-reactions, one semi-reaction involves the loss of electrons from a compound, in In this case the compound is oxidized, while in the other semi-reaction the compound is reduced, that is, it gains electrons, one acts as an oxidant and the other as a reducer.
Aluminum and Carbon Monoxide
An oxidizing (or also called oxidizing) agent is one that is reduced, that is, it steals electrons from another compound / element.
It can be named as:
a chemical compound that oxidizes another substance in electrochemical or redox reactions. In these reactions, the oxidizing compound is reduced.
Basically:
- The oxidant is reduced.
- The reducer rusts.
- All the components of the reaction have an oxidation number.
- In these reactions there is an exchange of electrons
The same compound / element may be, depending on who you are dealing with, is reducing or oxidizing, or it may also increase its reducing or oxidizing character or decrease, even until it disappears, as the pH of the medium varies.
An example of this is hydrogen peroxide (H 2 O 2 ), hydrogen peroxide, which can act as a reducing agent or as an oxidant depending on whether it is in a basic or acidic medium.
Hydrogen
Hydrogen is a reducing agent due to its ability to yield or transfer electrons to an oxidizing agent. Actually what happens with hydrogen is that it oxidizes and therefore causes some other substance to be reduced.
The Hydrogen is one of the reagents used in organic chemistry for reductions of certain functional groups or functions (alkene, alkyne) but the reducing species strictly performs reduction is the ion Hydride (hydrogen atom but negatively charged H-) by this is hydrogen if it is not used in “company” with a catalyst, which are generally transition metals such as Ni, Pd, Pt, etc.
In aerobic reactions, oxygen acts as a reducing agent, for example in the rancidity of fats, in which it breaks them down through slow hydrolysis reactions, catalyzed by enzymes, which lead to the formation of aldehydes and ketones . The oxygen in the air attacks the double bonds and, in a progressive process, ends up breaking the carbon chain, producing foul-smelling compounds. In butter, this alteration causes the appearance of butyric or butanoic acid, causing the taste and odor that this substance takes when it is altered.
