What is "pinacol rearrangement"

n. (context organic chemistry English) A class of rearrangement reaction in which a 1,2-diol is converted into a ketone; especially the case of the conversion of pinacol into pinacolone

The pinacol–pinacolone rearrangement is a method for converting a 1,2-diol to a carbonyl compound in organic chemistry. The 1,2-rearrangement takes place under acidic conditions. The name of the rearrangement reaction comes from the rearrangement of pinacol to pinacolone.

This reaction was first described by Wilhelm Rudolph Fittig in 1860 of the famed Fittig reaction involving coupling of 2 aryl halides in presence of sodium metal in dry etherial solution.