What are aldehydes and ketones?
Aldehydes and ketones as carbonyl compounds Aldehydes and ketones are simple compounds which contain a carbonyl group – a carbon-oxygen double bond. They are simple in the sense that they don’t have other reactive groups like -OH or -Cl attached directly to the carbon atom in the carbonyl group – as you might find, for example, in carboxylic acids containing -COOH. Examples of aldehydes In aldehydes, the carbonyl group has a hydrogen atom attached to it together with either • a second hydrogen atom • or, more commonly, a hydrocarbon group which might be an alkyl group or one containing a benzene ring. For the purposes of this section, we shall ignore those containing benzene rings.
