What is clemensen reduction
Answers
Clemmensen reduction is mainly used to reduce the carbonyl group present in the aldehydes and ketones can be reduced to methylene group and the process is known as deoxygenation because it involves the replacement of carbon and oxygen double bond with two hydrogen atoms. There are three methods of the deoxygenating aldehyde and ketones to form hydrocarbon.(Clemmensen reduction, Wolff-Kishner Reduction & Reduction with HI in presence of Red phosphorus)
One of the method is Clemmensen reduction.
The Clemmensen reduction is carried out under acidic conditions and therefore it is suitable method for reducing aldehyde and ketones which are unstable to basic conditions. It is most commonly used to convert acylbenzene to alkylbenzene the process consists of refluxing the carbonyl compound with hydrochloric acid (HCl)containing amalgamated zinc.
Answer:
Clemmensen reduction is a chemical reaction described as a reduction of ketones (or aldehydes) to alkanes using zinc amalgam and concentrated hydrochloric acid.