KETONE

n. Ke'ton. Fr., ketone. Ger., Keton. An oxidation product of a secondary alcohol, thus bearing the same relation to the latter that an aldehyde does to a primary alcohol. The k's are derived from the series of bivalent hydrocarbons by the combination of the latter with one atom of oxygen which is united directly with a carbon atom that is itself in direct combination with two other carbon atoms. Or a k. may be regarded as a compound of carboxyl (CO) with two univalent hydrocarbons. The general formula for the k's is, accordingly, CnHan-i-i C: O CmHam+i. A k. is often designated by the names of the two univalent hydrocarbons which unite thus with carboxyl to form it, prefixed to the term k.; thus methyl ethyl k. is CH3 CO C2H6. [B, 4.] Aromatic k. A k. derived from a secondary alcohol of the aromatic series, CnHzn-r C: O CnHan+i; i. e., a univalent hydrocarbon of the fatty series (methyl or one of its homologues) united with a univalent hydrocarbon of the aromatic series (phenyl or one of its homologues), with the intervention of the radicle carboxyl (CO). [s. 537]