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Chemistry LibreTexts

Wolff-Kishner Reduction

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The reaction of aldehydes and ketones with hydrazine in basic medium, which reduces the aldehyde or the ketone to a hydrocarbon, is called Wolff-Kishner reduction.

eg:

wolffkishnerreduction1.png

mechanism:

index.png

Wolff-Kishner reduction is complementary to Clemmensen reduction, which also converts aldehydes and ketones to hydrocarbons, in that the former is carried out in strongly basic medium and the latter in strongly acidic medium.


This page titled Wolff-Kishner Reduction is shared under a All Rights Reserved (used with permission) license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Gamini Gunawardena via source content that was edited to the style and standards of the LibreTexts platform.

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