base, an ?-hydrogen in an aldehyde is weakly acidic with a p''K''_a near 17. This acidification of the ?-hydrogen in aldehyde is attributed to:
* the electron-withdrawing quality of the formyl center and
* the fact that the conjugate base, an enolate anion, delocalizes its negative charge.The formyl proton itself does not readily undergo deprotonation.

Enolization

Aldehydes (except

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