3.5 Alcohols

• Alcohols have the functional group OH, which is called the hydroxyl, and they form the homologous series.
• All alcohols have an OH group.
• Alcohols can be primary, secondary, or tertiary.
• Primary alcohols have one alkyl group attached to a carbon which is bonded to the OH group.
• Secondary alcohols have two alkyl groups attached to the carbon with the OH group.
• Tertiary alcohols have three alkyl groups attached to a carbon with the OH group.
• Separation in step two involves adding water to the distillation product, which dissolves some of the soluble impurities, resulting in a two-layer solution with the cyclohexane layer on top and the impure layer on the bottom.
• Cyclohexanol is a type of alcohol that can be separated, distilled, and purified using various techniques.
• Distillation involves heating a mixture of concentrated sulfuric or phosphoric acid and cyclohexanol in a round bottom flask with anti-bumping granules, resulting in a smooth boiling process.
• Purification in step three involves removing the impure layer from the two-layer solution, leaving behind the valuable product, cyclohexene.
• Alcohols can be made sustainably from plants by fermentation of glucose.
• Dehydration of alcohols involves removing water from a molecule, a process also known as dehydration.
• Dehydration of alcohols can be illustrated using an elimination mechanism.
• The land used for fuel can be used to grow food, especially in countries where food is in short supply.
• Converting petrol engines to take fuels with higher levels of ethanol can be costly.
• During fermentation, air produces two moles of carbon dioxides, which are then released into the atmosphere.
• Biofuels are renewable and sustainable compared to crude oil and produce carbon dioxide when burnt, making them carbon neutral.
• During photosynthesis, plants produce the glucose needed for fermentation.
• The reactions slow at low temperatures and the enzyme is denatured at high temperatures.
• Ethanol production is net carbon neutral as the plants absorb the carbon dioxide produced when it is burned.
• Ethanol is made from dead biological matter and is used as a fuel in countries like Brazil due to the abundance of sugar cane.
• The enzyme prefers to work between 30 to 40 degrees Celsius and this is the optimum temperature of the enzyme to work.
• Fractional distillation is used to obtain the pure product after fermentation.
• The rate of reaction is the rate at which we convert glucose into ethanol.
• Despite using distillation, further separation may be necessary due to impurities remaining in the sample.
• The reaction of making cyclohexene involves several steps, including distillation.
• The mechanism of dehydration involves the formation of a CC double bond to stabilize a carbo cation intermediate.
• A separation funnel can be used to separate the products and remove any water that may be present.
• The product is collected at the end of the distillation.
• Dehydration of alcohols is conducted by a distillation, which separates the components out according to their boiling points.
• The dehydration of non-primary alcohols can result in two different alkenes.
• A drying agent can be added to the separation funnel to aid in the separation of products and the removal of water.
• A distillation kit consists of an impure product, a thermometer, a heating element, and a Liebig condenser.
• Fermentation involves using yeast in anaerobic conditions, producing ethanol and carbon dioxide.
• The lone pair on the water molecule bonds to the carbocation intermediate, producing a product with three bonds.
• The mechanism for the hydration of alkenes involves the electrons in the double bonds forming a bond with a hydrogen plus sign, resulting in a carbocation intermediate.
• The product of the hydration of alkenes is an alcohol, CH3CH2OH, also known as ethanol.
• Fermentation is a sustainable way of producing alcohol, turning crude oil into ethanol.
• The positive charge on the carbocation intermediate is stabilized by electrons from the bond between the hydrogen and the oxygen, resulting in a neutral oxygen and a hydrogen that is lost.
• The yeast in fermentation is an enzyme that converts glucose into carbon dioxide and ethanol, and it has to be at the right temperature to function properly.