Question

Explain why aldehydes undergo nucleophilic addition more readily than ketones.

Answer 1

The reactivity of aldehyde and ketones towards nucleophilic addition is because of the polar nature of Carbonyl group where carbon contains slightly positive charge and oxygen contains slightly negative charge.

In nucleophilic addition reaction the nucleophile attacks at electropositive carbon. Thus more electropositive the carbon, more easily it is attacked by nucleophile. Ketone contains an extra alkyl group, compared to aldehyde, which releases electron towards carbonyl carbon making it less electropositive. Therefore, aldehyde undergo a nucleophilic addition reaction more easily than ketones.