Give reasons:

A. The α-hydrogen atoms of aldehydes and ketones are acidic in nature.

B. Oxidation of aldehydes is easier than ketones.

C. Is more acidic than

Option (A)

The general structure of aldehydes and ketones is given as:

The alpha hydrogen experiences negative inductive effect and negative resonance effect which decreases the C ─ H bond strength.

As you can see that the C ─ H bond weakens and sometimes this rearrangement gives you enol form which provides extra stability to the alpha carbon. This makes the donation of that hydrogen atom easy making it acidic in nature.

Option (B)

The C ─ C has more bond fission enthalpy as compared to the C ─ H bond due the electronegativity difference between carbon and hydrogen. This weakens the bond and makes it easier for oxidation reaction to occur in aldehydes as compared to ketones.

Option (C)

In a hybridization of the carbon atom the σ-overlap keeps the electrons closer to the nucleus of the atoms. Thus the greater the s-character in a compound the more is its acidicity as the resultant carbanion is stabilised by stronger nuclear force of attraction. But in the given compound, the carbanion formed is stabilized with the help of resonance that is shown as follows:

This justifies that the double bonded carbon is more acidic in nature due to the ᴨ-bond overlap.