Question

What is oxidative cleavage?

Answer 1

Oxidative cleavage leads in formation of end products as carboxylates or ketones.
Oxidative cleavage involves combining carbon-carbon bonds for generation of carbon-oxygen (C-O) bonds. Some carbon-carbon (C-C) and carbon-hydrogen (C-H) bonds are oxidized while some are not.

Complete answer:
Oxidative cleavage of Alkene through utilization of ozone is derived by converting carbon-carbon bond into carbon-oxygen, C-O bond and then splitting the carbon-oxygen (C-O) bond into two carbonyl compounds. This process is known as reductive workup. This process helps in replacement of double or triple bonds of carbon-carbon by double bonds of oxygen. The further addition of zinc (Zn) leads to reductive workup, giving a $C=C$ bond and this process ultimately gives Aldehyde or Ketone.
Next step involves oxidative workup which is undertaken by adding oxidizing agents like water to the product (Aldehyde or Ketone) obtained. This reaction will lead in formation of $C=C$ bond and oxidized C-H bond. This leads to formation of Carboxylic Acid or Ketone. This is the whole process of oxidative cleavage of Alkene.
Gentle or strong cleavage happen leading in different end products of oxidative cleavage. Gentle cleavage leaves terminal carbons which are partially oxidized to aldehydes. This further continues into strong cleavage. Strong cleavage leads in full oxidization of terminal carbons to carboxylic acids. These internal carbon bonds in turn leads in formation of ketones.
The oxidative cleavage process is used to determine the structure of complex alkenes by breaking them into smaller and simpler bonds.

Note:
Oxidative cleavage end product depends upon the intensity by which oxidization of carbon-carbon bond takes place.