Oh, My Ketone!
(to the tune of "Oh, My Darling Clementine")

Oh, my ketone! Oh, my ketone!
And my primary amine.
You reacted, lost some water and
You formed a new imine.

Now the lone pair on the N then
Bonds with carbonyl C.
Pi electrons go to O, a
Proton shifts fast as can be.

Now the O is feeling greedy
Grabs an H from OH3.
Free electrons from the N then
Form a pi bond, water leaves.

Now the N is protonated
And a plus charge can be seen.
So the water yanks the H off
And we've formed a new imine.

Oh, my ketone! Oh, my ketone!
And my primary amine.
You reacted, lost some water and
You formed a new imine.

by William Evans
6 May 1997