Acyloin

The structure of a typical acyloin.

In organic chemistry, acyloins or α-hydroxy ketones[1] are a class of organic compounds of the general form R−C(O)CH(OH)−R', composed of a hydroxy group (−OH) adjacent to a ketone group (>C=O). The name acyloin is derived from the fact that they are formally derived from reductive coupling of carboxylic acyl groups (−C(=O)OH).[1] They are one of the two main classes of hydroxy ketones, distinguished by the position of the hydroxy group relative to the ketone; in this form, the hydroxy is on the alpha carbon, explaining the secondary name of α-hydroxy ketone.

  1. ^ a b IUPAC, Compendium of Chemical Terminology, 2nd ed. (the "Gold Book") (1997). Online corrected version: (2006–) "acyloins". doi:10.1351/goldbook.A00126