Question

Explain why aldehydes are more reactive than ketones towards nucleophilic addition reaction

Answer 1

the reason for it is that ketone has 2 alkyl groups attached to it which reduces its electrophilicity hence leading to less reactivity towards nucleophilic substitution reaction while an aldehyde group has only one such group(alkyl group) attached to it hence it is more reactive

one more reason for it is that the ketone hinders the incoming nucleophile more effectively compared to aldehyde since it has more number of alkyl groups attaches to it

hope this helps