Question

From my understanding, hydroquinone is oxidized to benzoquinone and vice versa like the picture below.

oxidize reduce OH p-hydroquinone (colorless) p-benzoquinone (yellow)

So I thought the answer for this question would be oxidized but it was wrong.

Why the answer is reduced???

Answer 1

Actually, if we considered the reduced form, we find that it is electron rich, Thereby it can carry electron and convert to oxidized ett form by transferring electronis). However, for oxidized form, once the electron is accepted, it shall convert to reduced form and cannot carry electrons anymore. The reby, redon reduced form is correct. Hope it helps..