OXIMES  , in organic

chemistry, compounds containing the grouping > C : N • OH, derived from aldehydes and ketones by condensing them with hydroxylamine . Those derived from aldehydes are known as aldoximes, those from ketones as ketoximes . They were first prepared by V . Meyer in 1882 (Bey., 1882, 15, pp . 1324, 1525, 2778) . They are either colour-less liquids, which boil without decomposition, or crystalline solids; and are both basic and acidic in character . On reduction by sodium amalgam in glacial acetic acid solution they yield primary amines . They are hydrolysed by dilute mineral acids yielding hydroxylamine and the parent aldehyde or ketone . The aldoximes are converted by the action of dehydrating agents into nitriles: RCH : NOH—4R C : N+H2O . The ket- oximes by the action of acetyl chloride undergo a peculiar intra- molecular re-arrangement known as the Beckmann trans- formation (E . Beckmann, Ber., 1886, 19, p . 989; 1887, 20, p .