Reactions of aldehydes and ketones

At the end of this activity, students should be able to:
– define a nucleophilic addition reaction and discuss its mechanism
– write equations for the addition reactions of hydrogen cyanide and hydrogensulphite, and name the products
– write equations for the reduction of aldehydes and ketones with various reducing agents and name the products of these reactions
– explain the differences between the behaviour of aldehydes and ketones during oxidation and describe the practical importance of these reactions
– write equations for the oxidation of aldehydes and ketones using known oxidising agents
– define Tollens’, Fehling’s and Brady’s reagents and name the reactions used for identification of carbonyl compounds.