Chemistry · Ch 12 — Carbonyl Compounds and Carboxylic Acids
Introduction
Introduction
The carbonyl group (>C=O) shows up constantly in everyday life, usually without you noticing it. Proteins, carbohydrates and the other biomolecules that build every plant and animal all contain carbonyl groups, and they play a direct role in metabolism -- pyridoxal, an aldehyde derived from vitamin B, functions as a coenzyme. Carbonyl compounds are just as central to industry: formaldehyde goes into manufacturing Bakelite, and paracetamol (p-acetylated aminophenol), the fever-reducing drug, contains a carbonyl group of its own.
What this unit sets out to do. By the end of it you should be able to:
- describe the important methods of preparing carbonyl compounds, and their reactions;
- explain the mechanism of nucleophilic addition reactions of carbonyl compounds;
- describe the preparation and chemical reactions of carboxylic acids and their derivatives;
- list the uses of aldehydes, ketones and carboxylic acids.
Adolf von Baeyer won the 1905 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for synthesising indigo dye and working out its structure. Among his other discoveries: barbituric acid, the parent compound of the sedative-hypnotic drugs known as barbiturates.