Final answer:
Alkenes are converted to alcohols through oxymercuration-demercuration, not by forming alkyl halides, which are derived from alkanes. Ethanol, a primary alcohol, can be oxidized to acetaldehyde, which further oxidizes to carboxylic acids. Alcohols and alkyl halides may participate in elimination reactions to yield alkenes.
Step-by-step explanation:
Alkenes can be converted to alcohols by adding a hydroxy group (OH) in a reaction known as hydroxylation. However, when alkenes react with mercuric acetate, a different process called oxymercuration-demercuration occurs. The initial reaction forms a mercurinium ion intermediate, which is then followed by the addition of a water molecule and subsequent reduction to yield the alcohol. This question seems to reference the conversion of alkenes to alcohols, but the student mistakenly mentioned the production of alkyl halides instead. Alkyl halides can indeed be derived from alkanes through various reactions, including free radical halogenation, and they are useful intermediates in organic synthesis offering pathways to other classes of compounds via Nucleophilic Substitution (SN2) reactions.
Regarding the oxidation of alcohols, the aforementioned information indicates that primary alcohols like ethanol are oxidized to aldehydes such as acetaldehyde. A typical oxidizing agent for this transformation is potassium dichromate (K2Cr2O7), which can also oxidize secondary alcohols to ketones.
It should be noted that the conversion of alkenes to alcohols via mercuric acetate does not yield alkyl halides. Instead, alkyl halides are typically produced from alkanes. Alcohols and alkyl halides can also both undergo elimination reactions to form alkenes, which is the reverse of the hydroxylation process.