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How can acyl chlorides be reduced to aldehydes?
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aldehyde
Alcohols may be oxidized to give aldehydes, ketones, and carboxylic acids. The oxidation of organic compounds generally increases the number of bonds from carbon to oxygen, and it may decrease the number of bonds to hydrogen.
Acyl chlorides can be reduced to aldehydes (RCOCl → RCHO) using lithium tri-tert-butoxyaluminum hydride, LiAlH[OC(CH₃)₃]₃.12
It is important to note that other common reducing agents, such as lithium aluminum hydride (LiAlH₄) or sodium borohydride (NaBH₄), are typically too strong for this specific transformation and will instead reduce acyl chlorides further to primary alcohols (RCOCl → RCH₂OH).1