Need help preparing for the General Chemistry section of the MCAT? MedSchoolCoach expert, Ken Tao, will teach everything you need to know about Reducing Agents and Oxidizing Agents of Electrochemistry. Watch this video to get all the MCAT study tips you need to do well on this section of the exam!
Reducing agents are defined as compounds that can reduce other substances and are themselves oxidized. Oxidizing agents are defined as compounds that reduce other substance and are themselves reduced. These definitions are often applied to compounds in a redox reaction but can be confusing, so we will proceed carefully.
Reducing Agents
First, note that a reducing agent is not something that gets reduced. A reducing agent is a compound that is oxidized, and in the process of getting oxidized, reduces something else. Therefore, a reducing agent loses electrons, which it gives to another compound. Since it’s good at getting oxidized, we can infer that a reducing agent has a high oxidation potential and relatively low reduction potential.
You should be familiar with several common reducing agents, so that you know what their function is when you see them in organic chemistry reactions on the MCAT. These include: LiAlH4, NaBH4, H2, various metals, NADH, NADPH, and FADH2. The first three are commonly seen in organic chemistry reactions while the final three are commonly seen in biochemical systems.
Oxidizing Agents
An oxidizing agent is a compound that is reduced, and in the process of getting reduced, oxidizes something else. Therefore, an oxidizing agent gains electrons, which it takes from another compound. We can infer that an oxidizing agent has a low oxidation potential and a high reduction potential.
There are also several common oxidizing agents you should be able to recognize. When these compounds participate in organic chemistry reactions, we might predict that bonds between oxygen and carbon are forming. For example: O2, H2O2, CrO4-, Cr2O72-, NAD+.
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