Question

Consider the given reaction. The total number of oxygen atoms present per molecule of the product (P) is____.

Answer 1

Correct Answer: 1

The reaction shown is an ozonolysis of 2-butene. The ozone (O₃) cleaves the double bond, and the reduction with Zn/H₂O results in the formation of aldehydes or ketones. For 2-butene, the ozonolysis reaction can be depicted as: 

Reactant: \[\text{CH}_{3}\text{CH}=\text{CH}\text{CH}_{3}\]

Step 1: Ozonolysis cleaves the C=C bond.

Step 2: The products are two molecules of acetaldehyde (\[\text{CH}_{3}\text{CHO}\]).

Product (P): Each acetaldehyde molecule contains one oxygen atom.

Molecule	Oxygen Atoms
Acetaldehyde (\[\text{CH}_{3}\text{CHO}\])	1

Since 2-butene is symmetrical, only one type of product is formed, which is acetaldehyde. The total number of oxygen atoms per molecule of product (P) is therefore 1.

Answer 2

Upon ozonolysis, the compound CH₃–CH=CH–CH₃ is cleaved at the double bond, resulting in two molecules of CH₃–C=O.

Each resulting molecule contains one oxygen atom.

Hence, the total number of oxygen atoms present per molecule of the product is: 1

So, the correct answer is: 1.