Question

What is disproportionation reaction?

Answer 1

Disproportionation is a specific type of redox reaction in which a species is simultaneously reduced and oxidised to form two different products.
In this reaction the chemical bond in the molecular ion is broken and one mercury atom is reduced to mercury(0) and the other is oxidized to mercury(II).

Chlorine gas reacts with dilute sodium hydroxide to form sodium chloride, sodium chlorate and water. The ionic equation for this reaction is as follows
$3C{l}_2+6O{H}^{-}\to 5C{l}^{-}+Cl{O}_3^{-}+3H_{2}O$
The chlorine gas reactant is in oxidation state 0. In the products, the chlorine in the $C{l}^{-}$ ion has an oxidation number of -1, having been reduced, whereas the oxidation number of the chlorine in the $Cl{O}_3^{-}$ ion is +5, indicating that it has been oxidized.