JEE
Organic Chemistry Topicwise Questions

Carbonyl Compounds Questions for Practice
with Solutions

What are Carbonyl Compounds?

The compounds containing a carbonyl group (the -C=O group) are called carbonyl compounds.

The carbonyl group, C=O, is probably the most important functional group in organic chemistry. These compounds are an integral part of organic chemistry and their primary members are called aldehydes, ketones, and carboxylic acids.

Carbonyl Group

A carbonyl group is a functional group featuring a double bond between a carbon atom and an oxygen atom (illustrated below). However, the term ‘Carbonyl’ can also refer to carbon monoxide as the ligand within an organometallic or inorganic compound (say a metal carbonyl, such as nickel carbonyl).

Carbonyl compounds can be further divided into organic and inorganic carbonyl compounds. This article details the carbonyl compounds those of organic in nature.

Examples of Organic Carbonyl Compounds

These include carbamates, urea, and also the derivatives of phosgene, acyl chlorides chloroformates, carbonate esters, lactones, thioesters, lactams, isocyanates, and hydroxamates.

Properties of Carbonyl Compounds

Some properties of carbonyl compounds are given below:

These are to be polar in nature. They exhibit both positive and negative charge in slight form. Hence, these are said to be polar molecules.
These compounds are reported to be insoluble in water but sometimes they dissolve other forms of polar molecules.
These are known to be as chemically reactive compounds. It means that they control the reactions of a chemical reaction.