Question

Final product is

Answer 1

2-hydroxy-1-phenylethanone (Phenacyl alcohol)

Answer 2

The given reactant is 1-phenylpropane-1,2-diol, which contains a secondary benzylic alcohol and a primary saturated alcohol.

Manganese dioxide (MnO2) is a selective oxidizing agent that specifically oxidizes allylic and benzylic alcohols. Therefore, only the secondary benzylic alcohol group (-CH(OH)-Ph) will be oxidized to a ketone, while the primary alcohol group (-CH2OH) will remain unaffected. This yields 2-hydroxy-1-phenylethanone.

Reaction:

$Ph-CH(OH)-CH_2OH \xrightarrow{\text{MnO}_2} Ph-C(=O)-CH_2OH$

The final product is 2-hydroxy-1-phenylethanone, commonly known as phenacyl alcohol or ω-hydroxyacetophenone.

The structure of the final product is:

      O
      ||
Ph-C-CH2OH