Alcohols

• Functional group of an alcohol: hydroxyl group -OH
• General formula of an alcohol: CnH2n+1OH
• Naming alcohols: one prefix is "Hydroxyl-" and one suffix is "-ol"
• Intermolecular forces in alcohols: hydrogen bonding due to the electronegativity difference in the OH bond
• Alcohols have higher melting and boiling points compared to other hydrocarbons of similar carbon chain lengths because they have hydrogen bonding, which is the strongest type of intermolecular force
• Solubility of alcohols in water: they are soluble when short-chained as OH hydrogen bonds to water, but insoluble when long-chained due to the non-polarity of the C-H bond
• Primary alcohols are defined by C bonded to OH being only bonded to one other C atom
• Secondary alcohols have C bonded to OH bonded to two other C atoms
• Equation for the combustion of ethanol: C2H5OH (l) + 3O2 (g) → 2CO2 (g) + 3H2O (l)
• Partially oxidizing a primary alcohol forms an aldehyde
• Conditions needed for partial oxidation of a primary alcohol: dilute sulphuric acid, potassium dichromate (VI), distill product as it’s produced, gentle heating
• Fully oxidizing a primary alcohol forms a carboxylic acid
• Conditions needed for fully oxidizing a primary alcohol: concentrated sulphuric acid, potassium dichromate (VI), reflux, strong heating
• Equation for the full oxidation of ethanol: CH3CH2OH (l) + 2[O] → CH3COOH (g) + H2O (l)
• Oxidizing a secondary alcohol forms a ketone
• Equation for the oxidation of propan-2-ol: CH3CH(OH)CH3 (l) + [O] → CH3COCH3 (g) + H2O (l)
• It is not possible to oxidize tertiary alcohol
• Dehydration reaction: a reaction where water is lost to form an organic compound
• Products of dehydration reaction of alcohol: alkene and water
• Conditions required for dehydration of alcohol: concentrated sulfuric acid or concentrated phosphoric acid and 170°C
• Products of the halide substitution reaction with alcohol: haloalkane and water
• Halide in halide substitution reaction is used in the form of hydrogen halide, e.g., HBr