How can you test for aldehydes and ketones?

Aldehydes can be differentiated from ketones as they give a positive result for the following tests -Tollens' reagent turns from a colourless solution to a silver precipitate.Fehling's solution turns from a blue solution to a red/orange precipitate.If the compound present is a ketone, there will be no further reaction. The reason these tests give the above results for aldehydes is because the reagents are weak oxidising agents, so the aldehydes are oxidised to carboxylic acids and the reagents are reduced, resulting in the observable changes. Ketones cannot be further oxidised, so this is why there is no reaction.

Answered by Gabriella N. Chemistry tutor

2650 Views

See similar Chemistry A Level tutors

Related Chemistry A Level answers

All answers ▸

Why is phenol nitrated more readily than benzene


How do I balance redox equations in acidic reactions, without trial and error, using half equations?


What's the difference between an electrophile and a nucleophile?


What is the difference in kinetics between a 0th, 1st and 2nd order reaction?


We're here to help

contact us iconContact usWhatsapp logoMessage us on Whatsapptelephone icon+44 (0) 203 773 6020
Facebook logoInstagram logoLinkedIn logo
Cookie Preferences