How do I know something is a carbonyl compound?

1 Answer

You will need to identify the presence of a ketone (aka cabonyl) functional group. Note the difference between a ketone and an aldehyde. The ketone will not have a H directly bonded to the C which forms the double bond with O.

They look like this...

http://pixgood.com/aldehydes-and-ketones.html

You might find this video helpful.

video from: Noel Pauller