In carboxylic acid derivatives, the heteroatom bonded to the carbonyl carbon on one side is a potential leaving group, whereas in aldehydes and ketones the hydrogen and/or carbon is definitely not a g...In carboxylic acid derivatives, the heteroatom bonded to the carbonyl carbon on one side is a potential leaving group, whereas in aldehydes and ketones the hydrogen and/or carbon is definitely not a good leaving group, so the two categories of compounds react in fundamentally different ways.
