A reaction in which two molecules of aldehyde combine to give an aldol – i.e. a compound containing both aldehyde and alcohol functional groups. The reaction is base-catalyzed; the reaction of ethanal refluxed with sodium hydroxide gives: 2CH3CHO → CH3CH(OH)CH2CHO The mechanism is similar to that of the Claisen condensation: the first step is removal
Salt in which there is only partial replacement of the acidic hydrogen of an acid by metal or other cations. For polybasic acids the formulae are of the type NaHSO₄ (sodium hydrogensulfate) and Na₃H(CO₃)₂.2H₂O (sodium sesquicarbonate). For monobasic acids such as HF the acid salts are of the form KHF2 (potassium hydrogen fluoride). Although the