Question

The aldol reaction is catalyzed by acid as well as base. What is the reactive nucleophile in the acid-catalyzed aldol reaction

Answer 1

The reactive nucleophile is Ketone.

Step-by-step explanation:

In organic chemistry, The process of acid - catalyzed aldol condensation starts from when ketone (or any aldehyde) is converted to an -enol, after which it attacks another ketone/aldehyde that has already been activated by parbonyl oxygen protonation.

The process of this is that first of all the ketone undergoes tautomerization to form -enol. Thereafter, the other carbonyl will undergo protonation which makes the carbon activated towards attack. Now, the nucleophilic enol will be added to the carbonyl in a [1,2]-addition reaction and we will now use deprotonation to obtain the neutral Aldol product.

Now, since only the ketone can produce an -enol, thus it is the nucleophile as aldehydes are better electrophiles