WHAT IS CROSS ALDOL CONDENSATION PLZ EXPLAIN THE REACTIONS I AM LITTLE BIT CONFUSE .PLZ HELP ME
An aldol condensation in which two different aldehydes or two different ketones or one aldehyde and one ketone having α-hydrogen atoms are treated with dilute alkali (NaOH or KOH) to form β-hydroxy aldehydes or β-hydroxyketones is known as crossed or mixed aldol condensation.
Such condensations can give mixture of four products which are difficult to separate. . For example, cross aldol condensation between ethanal and propanal.
Also you can follow the following link to understand the mechanism
Cross aldol condensation is of great synthetic use if one of the carbonyl compounds does not contain α-hydrogen atoms because then we don't get mixture of products.For example, ethanal with benzaldehyde.
