Did you know benzaldehyde is a component of the artificial flavours of mangoes, cherries, apricots, plums and peaches. This chemistry course details the make-up of aldehydes, ketones and carboxylic acids. You will first explore carbonyl compounds' distinctive odours and the differences between aldehydes and ketones. Then, we discuss their naming conventions and rules. You will discover the procedures of preparing aldehydes and ketones from primary and secondary alcohols. We delve into their reduction reactions and the addition of cyanide to aldehydes and ketones, which results in nitrile compounds.

The next section examines carboxylic acids, their naming conventions and various preparation techniques, such as refluxing nitrile compounds in aqueous, diluted hydrochloric acid. Compared to other acids, we observe carboxylic acids' acidity and how they increase it and their dissociation constant. The subsequent topic explains the interactions of carboxylic acids with reactive metals, alkalis and carbonates to produce salts. We also discuss carboxylic acid derivatives, such as acyl chlorides and benzoic acid, as well as their preparations and reactions.

Next, we look at infrared spectroscopy, which is used to analyse compounds and pinpoint their functional groups. You'll see that the infrared spectrum shows many peaks. We look at these and their corresponding functional groups to distinguish between compounds, such as hydroxyl (O—H) and amine (N—H) and ethylamine and ethanol. Finally, we investigate the distinctive infrared peaks of butanone, butan-2-ol, and butanoic acid and the variations in each of their spectra. To advance your understanding of chemistry, register right away.