Chloral consists of two OH bonds on the same carbon, which is usually unstable, and leads to the evolution of a water molecule, and converts into an aldehyde. However, this is not observed in chloral, and there must be a reason for this.
I have come up with 2 possibilities:
- hydrogen bonding in chloral, although it is quite weak
- high EN of the chlorines, which results in a huge partial positive charge on C
Which reasoning, if any, is correct, and why does it dominate over the other?
