Organic compounds are organized into families. The members of the simplest hydrocarbon family are referred to as alkanes and have only singly bonded carbon.
A chemist's shorthand for representing is R–H where R represents a saturated hydrocarbon group.
Several important families of organic compounds have a carbon doubly-bonded to oxygen (C=O) .
This group is known as a carbonyl group. This is the reactive site in the molecule and is known as the functional group.
Aldehydes and ketones are two of the families of carbonyl-containing compounds. They are the focus of this module.
Because it is important to be able to distinguish these from other carbonyl-containing compounds, the general formulae for other families of compounds containing carbonyl groups is also given below.
There are two bonds to carbonyl in each of the carbonyl-containing compounds
A chemist's shorthand for representing is R–H where R represents a saturated hydrocarbon group.
Several important families of organic compounds have a carbon doubly-bonded to oxygen (C=O) .
This group is known as a carbonyl group. This is the reactive site in the molecule and is known as the functional group.
Aldehydes and ketones are two of the families of carbonyl-containing compounds. They are the focus of this module.
Because it is important to be able to distinguish these from other carbonyl-containing compounds, the general formulae for other families of compounds containing carbonyl groups is also given below.
| family | example |
 (RCO2H or RCOOH) carboxylic acid |  |
 (RCO2R') ester |  |
 RCONH2 amide |  |
| family | example |
 (RCOR') ketone |  |
 (RCHO) aldehyde |  |
There are two bonds to carbonyl in each of the carbonyl-containing compounds
In the aldehyde family, one bond is to carbon and one bond is to hydrogen.
In the ketone family, both bonds are to carbon.
The carboxylic acid, ester and amide families one bond is to carbon (or hydrogen), and the other bond is to an oxygen or a nitrogen.
In the ketone family, both bonds are to carbon.
The carboxylic acid, ester and amide families one bond is to carbon (or hydrogen), and the other bond is to an oxygen or a nitrogen.