Question

How many aldol products are possible with addition between Acetaldehyde and Propanal?

Answer 1

The aldol reaction is the reaction in which the enolate of one aldehyde or ketone react at $\mathrm{\alpha }$ position of the another carbonyl compound to form $\mathrm{\beta }$-hydroxy aldehyde or ketone.

The below reaction and mechanistic diagram show a clear explanation of the aldol reaction:

The possible products formed by the addition between Acetaldehyde and Propanal:

• When Acetaldehyde is added with Propanal in presence of Sodium hydroxide will result in four distinct products.
• This reaction takes place under aldol condensation. The aldehyde and ketones containing alpha Hydrogen and alpha Carbon atom undergo Aldol condensation.
• Due to this condensation, the caron chain expands. The alpha Hydrogen is acidic in nature. thus they are easily eliminated from the compound.

Thus, The four possible products are formed when Acetaldehyde and Propanal undergo Aldol condensation.