What are examples of aldehydes?
1 Answer
Formaldehyde, Acetaldehyde, Benzaldehyde, Citral. Many fragrances are aldehydes. Vanillin is responsible for the flavor of vanilla, and cinnamaldehyde gives cinnamon is characteristic odor.
Explanation:
Aldehydes, ketones, carboxylic acids, and an esters all vary from the others by the way the oxygens are linked to the carbon atoms.
The carboxylic acid ends with a carbon attached by a double bond and a single bond to and oxygen and a hydroxyl (OH) group, respectively.
An ester is like a carboxylic acid, except that it has another carbon group attached to one oxygen instead of a hydrogen.
Aldehydes are like the acids, except that they have a terminal hydrogen instead of the hydroxyl group.
The ketones are to the aldehydes as the esters are to the acids – they have the same double-bonded oxygen, but instead of a terminal hydrogen there are additional C-H units.
See also, for more structures and detail:
http://chemed.chem.purdue.edu/genchem/topicreview/bp/2organic/aldehyde.html#common
