A novel iron(III) catalysed degradation of aliphatic aldehydes to their lower homologues with implications for lipid peroxidation chemistry

Abstract

In the presence of various barbituric acids and oxygen, aliphatic aldehydes are degraded to their lower homologues and bis(barbituroyl)methine chromogens in an iron catalysed process which can account for the generation and structure of the transient 452 nm chromogenic species in the thiobarbituric acid test and has implications for aldehyde toxicity and mutagenicity.