The aldehyde group is often written as -CHO, and a general aldehyde is symbolized by R-CHO. Some of the simpler aldehdes and the alcohols from which they are obtained are








In the examples above, the common name is given first and the systematic name appears in parenthases. The systematic name is identical to that of the corresponding alcohol, with the ending changed from "-ol" to "-al". The common names for the higher alcohols are totally unsystematic and are derived from the names of the corresponding carboxylic acids, which themselves arose from the historic source of the acid. For example, hexanal (CHCHCHCHCHCHO) is called caproaldehyde because caproic acid (CHCHCHCHCHCOOH) has an overripe smell of goats
(as in Capricorn).