The reaction between acetone and benzaldehyde can lead to the formation of an aldol product through a process known as the aldol condensation, especially under basic conditions. When two moles of acetone (a ketone) react with one mole of benzaldehyde (an aldehyde), they can undergo condensation to form a β-hydroxyketone.
The major product of this reaction is likely to be 4-hydroxy-4-methylpentan-2-one (or a similar structure) as it results from the nucleophilic addition of the enolate ion of acetone to benzaldehyde followed by dehydration to form an α,β-unsaturated carbonyl compound.
If no specific reaction conditions are given (such as temperature or the presence of a catalyst), we could anticipate both the aldol adduct and dehydration product:
- Aldol product: 4-hydroxy-4-methylpentan-2-one
- Dehydrated product: 4-methyl-3-phenylbut-3-en-2-one (also known as mesityl oxide)
In summary, the major product from the reaction of 2 moles of acetone and 1 mole of benzaldehyde is likely to be an α,β-unsaturated ketone after dehydration if the reaction proceeds under suitable conditions.
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