is an aldehyde or a ketone more acidic?
what is the pka of nitriles.. i tried looking this up but i cant find nething
http://www.chem.ucalgary.ca/courses/351/Carey5th/Ch21/ch21-2.html
nitriles don't have a distinct pka... unless u are looking at either an H or a CH3 group connected to it... which makes Hydrocyanic Acid pka 10 and Acetonitrile pka 25. Once u get longer Carbon chaines it is determined from what the chain is. Either Alkynes, Alkenes or Alkanes.
To determine whether an aldehyde or a ketone is more acidic, we need to look at the factors that influence acidity. The acidity of a compound depends on the stability of the conjugate base formed after deprotonation.
In the case of aldehydes and ketones, both have a carbon atom that is double bonded to an oxygen atom, which can potentially lose a proton to form a carbanion. However, in ketones, the presence of two alkyl groups (R groups) attached to the carbonyl carbon provides electron-donating inductive effects. This means that the alkyl groups donate electron density towards the carbonyl carbon, making it more electron-rich and less acidic compared to aldehydes.
Aldehydes, on the other hand, have only one alkyl group attached to the carbonyl carbon. This relatively lower inductive effect allows the carbonyl carbon to be more electron-deficient and more susceptible to deprotonation, making aldehydes more acidic compared to ketones.
In summary, aldehydes are generally more acidic than ketones due to their electron-deficient nature resulting from the presence of a single alkyl group attached to the carbonyl carbon.