bbartlog - 30-10-2014 at 21:27
Some of you might recall that a discussion regarding the synthesis of glyoxylic acid ended up with someone posting this interesting reference: http://www.sciencemadness.org/talk/files.php?pid=339821&...
...wherein oxalic acid in water is reduced to glyoxylic acid by way of magnesium powder. Is this kind of reduction specific to oxalic acid, or would
some other carboxylic acids also be subject to reduction this way? If it only applies to oxalic acid, why is that?