Although they are highly useful, most ketenes are unstable. When used as reagents in a chemical procedure, they are typically generated when needed, and consumed as soon as (or while) they are produced.<ref name="Ullmann">Template:Cite book</ref>
Ketenes were systematically investigated by Hermann Staudinger in 1905 in the form of diphenylketene (conversion of <math>\alpha</math>-chlorodiphenyl acetyl chloride with zinc). Staudinger was inspired by the first examples of reactive organic intermediates and stable radicals discovered by Moses Gomberg in 1900 (compounds with triphenylmethyl group).<ref>Thomas T. Tidwell, The first century of Ketenes (1905-2005): the birth of a family of reactive intermediates, Angewandte Chemie, Int. Edition, Band 44, 2005, S. 5778–5785</ref>
Ketenes are highly electrophilic at the carbon atom bonded with the heteroatom, due to its sp character. Ketenes can be formed with different heteroatoms bonded to the sp carbon atom, such as O, S or Se, respectively called ketenes, thioketenes and selenoketenes.
Ethenone, the simplest ketene, has different experimental lengths for each of its double bonds; the C=O bond is 1.160 Å and the C=C bond is 1.314 Å. The angle between the two H atoms is 121.5°, similar to the theoretically ideal angle in alkenes between sp2carbon atoms and H substituents.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
Ketenes are unstable and cannot be stored. In the absence of nucleophiles with which to react, ethenone dimerises to give β-lactone, a cyclic ester. If the ketene is disubstituted, the dimerisation product is a substituted cyclobutadione. For monosubstituted ketenes, the dimerisation could afford either the ester or the diketone product.
In this reaction, a base, usually triethylamine, removes the acidicproton alpha to the carbonyl group, inducing the formation of the carbon-carbon double bond and the loss of a chloride ion:
Another way to generate ketenes is through flash vacuum thermolysis (FVT) with 2-pyridylamines. Plüg and Wentrup developed a method in 1997 that improved on FVT reactions to produce ketenes with a stable FVT that is moisture insensitive, using mild conditions (480 °C). The N-pyridylamines are prepared via a condensation with R-malonates with N-amino(pyridene) and DCC as the solvent.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
A more robust method for preparing ketenes is the carbonylation of metal-carbenes, and in situ reaction of the thus produced highly reactive ketenes with suitable reagents such as imines, amines, or alcohols.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> This method is an efficient one‐pot tandem protocol of the carbonylation of α‐diazocarbonyl compounds and a variety of N‐tosylhydrazones catalysed by Co(II)–porphyrin metalloradicals leading to the formation of ketenes, which subsequently react with a variety of nucleophiles and imines to form esters, amides and β‐lactams. This system has a broad substrate scope and can be applied to various combinations of carbene precursors, nucleophiles and imines.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
Ethenone can be produced through pyrolysis of acetone vapours over a hot filament in an apparatus that was eventually developed into the "ketene lamp" or "Hurd lamp" (named for Charles D. Hurd).<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
Ketenes are generally very reactive, and participate in various ketene cycloadditions. One important process is the dimerization to give propiolactones. A specific example is the dimerization of the ketene of stearic acid to afford alkyl ketene dimers, which are widely used in the paper industry.<ref name="Ullmann" /> AKD's react with the hydroxyl groups on the cellulose via esterification reaction.
They will also undergo [2+2] cycloaddition reactions with electron-rich alkynes to form cyclobutenones, or carbonyl groups to form beta-lactones. With imines, beta-lactams are formed. This is the Staudinger synthesis, a facile route to this important class of compounds. With acetone, ketene reacts to give isopropenyl acetate.<ref name="Ullmann" />
Ethyl acetoacetate, an important starting material in organic synthesis, can be prepared using a diketene in reaction with ethanol. They directly form ethyl acetoacetate, and the yield is high when carried out under controlled circumstances; this method is therefore used industrially.
