Question

Vinyl Alcohol gets readily converted into acetaldehyde by:
A.Oxidation
B.Reduction
C.Tautomerization
D.Polymerization

Answer 1

Vinyl alcohol is an example of an “enol” in which an organic compound has both a double bond as well as an alcoholic group. It is converted to acetaldehyde as a result of chemical equilibrium that exists between two different forms of the same compound formed due to delocalization of electrons.

Complete step by step answer:
The IUPAC name of vinyl alcohol is “ethylene alcohol” or “ethanol”. An “enol” is a reactive intermediate structure in organic chemistry that is represented by an alkene bond with a hydroxyl group attached to an end of the double bond.
Under room temperature, vinyl alcohol or ethanol tautomerizes to form acetaldehyde, because acetaldehyde is the more stable form at room temperature and the enthalpy change is the conversion is $\Delta {\text{H}} = -42.7{\text{kJ/mol}}$ .

Hence, the correct answer is option C.

Note: Tautomers can be defined as two molecules with the same molecular formula but different connectivity. In other words, these are constitutional isomers that exist in rapid equilibrium with each other.There are different types of Tautomerization, in which the most common one is the “keto-enol” one. The alpha proton of the carbonyl group is acidic in nature and in the formation of an enol, the proton is extracted by a base and that same proton is transferred to the carbonyl oxygen. This results in the formation of a new functional group that combines both alkene and alcohol groups and hence, the name “enol”.