Why can't tertiary alcohols be oxidized?

Tertiary alcohols are characterized by having the hydroxyl (-OH) group attached to a carbon atom that is bonded to three other carbon atoms. This structural feature is crucial to understanding their behavior during oxidation reactions. During the oxidation of alcohols, the oxidation typically involves the conversion of the hydroxyl group into a carbonyl group (such as a ketone or aldehyde, depending on the type of alcohol), which requires the presence of at least one hydrogen atom on the carbon atom bearing the hydroxyl group.

In the case of tertiary alcohols, the carbon atom that carries the -OH group is already fully saturated with other carbon atoms and lacks a hydrogen atom. Since there is no hydrogen atom available for oxidation, tertiary alcohols cannot undergo oxidation to form a carbonyl compound. This explains why they resist oxidation reactions that would convert them into aldehydes or ketones, which can only occur in primary and secondary alcohols where the required hydrogen atom is present on the carbon attached to the hydroxyl group.