Potassium dichromate is an oxidising agent in organic chemistry. It is used to oxidize alcohols.
In an aqueous solution the color change exhibited can be used to test for distinguishing aldehydes from ketones. Aldehydes reduce dichromate from the +6 to the +3 oxidation state, changing color from orange to green. This color change arises because the aldehyde can be oxidized to the corresponding carboxylic acid.