Figure 1.

Schematic of potential synthetic relationships between carbonyl compounds⁽¹⁾ and other structurally-related organic compounds. Illustrated are the amino acid⁽²⁾ and hydroxy acid⁽³⁾ products of Strecker synthesis, carboxylic acids⁽⁴⁾ produced via oxidation of aldehydes, alcohol⁽⁵⁾ precursors to aldehydes/ketones, and amines⁽⁶⁾ formed through reductive amination of aldehydes/ketones, decarboxylation of amino acids, and nucleophilic substitution of alcohols. A. The simplest aldehyde (formaldehyde) and structurally-related organics. B. The simplest ketone (acetone) and structurally-related organics.