How would you explain the structural difference between a aldehyde, ketone, carboxylic acid, and an ester?
1 Answer
Feb 29, 2016
Each varies from the others by the way the oxygens are linked to the carbon atoms.
Explanation:
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.
