In organic chemistry, a semialdehyde is a compound containing an aldehyde and a carboxylic acid functional groups. Semialdehydes are common in biochemistry. The simplest semialdehydes have the formula . As illustrated by the behavior of the smallest member, glyoxylic acid, semialdehydes often exist as hydrates (geminal diols) .
Some of semialdehydes and their parent dicarboxylic acids are listed below. + Selected Semialdehydes and their parent diacid Semialdehyde Dicarboxylic acid malonic semialdehyde malonic acid tartronic semialdehyde tartronic acid succinic semialdehyde succinic acid methylmalonic semialdehyde methylmalonic acid aspartic-4-semialdehyde aspartic acid glutamic-1-semialdehyde glutamic acid glutamic-5-semialdehyde glutamic acid 4-hydroxymuconic-semialdehyde 4-Hydroxymuconic acid 2-amino-3-carboxymuconic semialdehyde 2-amino-4-carboxymuconic acid alpha-aminoadipic semialdehyde alpha-aminoadipic acid
Although structurally related to semialdehydes, dicarboxylic acids are rarely biochemical precursors to them.
References