[Sagar Hathwar]

I was reading about Aldol condensation reactions and found the reaction between Benzaldehyde and acetophenone a bit confusing - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chalcone
Though the α-Hydrogen of aldehydes are more acidic than that of ketones, why does the α-Hydrogen of ketone(Accetophenone) attack the carbonyl oxygen of aldehyde(Benzaldehyde) whilst it should have been the other way around i.e. α-Hydrogen of aldehyde being more acidic should have attacked the carbonyl oxygen of Ketone?

[kriggy]

Because the hydrogen in benzaldehyde is not α-hydrogen. α-hydrogen is hydrogen attached to α-carbon and there is none in benzealdehyde

[Sagar Hathwar]

Oh yes! I figured it out. Thank you very much. I was being a bit too careless.