Drake
Last Activity: 10 Years ago
already answered . Its a one step process.Distillation of phenol in contact with powdered zinc will in fact yield benzene and zinc oxide. 3 down vote acceptedZn shows an oxidation state of +2.The phenol gets converted into phenoxide ion and proton thus released accepts an electron from Zn forming H radical.Also because of the heating there is homolytic fission of C of phenyl ring and O-The O- thus formed accepts an electron from Zn and forms oxide ion.In this way zinc forms zinc oxide and phenyl radical thus produced forms a bond with H radical.