A reductone is a special class of

organic compound In chemistry, organic compounds are generally any chemical compounds that contain carbon- hydrogen or carbon-carbon bonds. Due to carbon's ability to catenate (form chains with other carbon atoms), millions of organic compounds are known. Th ...

s. They are enediols with a carbonyl group adjacent to the enediol group, i.e. RC(OH)=C(OH)-C(O)R. The enediol structure is stabilized by the

resonance Resonance describes the phenomenon of increased amplitude that occurs when the frequency of an applied periodic force (or a Fourier component of it) is equal or close to a natural frequency of the system on which it acts. When an oscillat ...

resulting from the tautomerism with the adjacent carbonyl. Therefore, the

chemical equilibrium In a chemical reaction, chemical equilibrium is the state in which both the reactants and products are present in concentrations which have no further tendency to change with time, so that there is no observable change in the properties of the ...

produces mainly the enediol form rather than the keto form. Reductones are

reducing agents In chemistry, a reducing agent (also known as a reductant, reducer, or electron donor) is a chemical species that "donates" an electron to an (called the , , , or ). Examples of substances that are commonly reducing agents include the Earth me ...

, thus efficacious

antioxidant Antioxidants are compounds that inhibit oxidation, a chemical reaction that can produce free radicals. This can lead to polymerization and other chain reactions. They are frequently added to industrial products, such as fuels and lubricants ...

s. Some are fairly strong acids. Examples of reductones are tartronaldehyde, reductic acid and ascorbic acid.

References

{{reflist Biosynthesis Functional groups Metabolism Reactive intermediates 3-Hydroxypropenals Enediols