How can aldehydes and ketones be distinguished from one another?
1 Answer
The Tollens test is classically the usual means to distinguish between aldehyde and ketone.
Explanation:
The Tollens test utilizes the redox chemisty of
The reaction chemistry is:
Silver nitrate is thus reduced to atomic silver, and the aldehyde is oxidized to carboxylic acid.
So the Tollens reagent is silver nitrate in ammoniacal solution (which forms the
A word of (unnecessary!) advice. It is a fact that cyclohexanone, a ketone, gives a lovely silver mirror with the Tollens reagent, even though cyclohexanone is a ketone. So the Tollens reagent is not discriminating in this particular case.