Questions tagged [alcohols]
For questions about saturated and unsaturated alcohols, their physical properties, their reactions, etc. For questions about phenol, use the [phenols] tag instead.
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Isopropyl Alcohol leaves a white haze on plastic, is there anything I can use to clean it off?
Recently I wanted to clean up some lubricant on some keyboard switches. On some forums, an Isopropyl alcohol bath was recommended so I decided to give that a try and went to purchase some 91% ...
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34 views
Why mixing water with ethanol produces heat energy? [closed]
Sorry if I'm asking something stupid but I'm trying to understand where this energy gets from. As far as I could find, it is not a reaction as both chemicals left unchanged, so it might have something ...
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Is there a simpler way to detect alcohol in a blood sample using IR spectroscopy?
I have seen all sorts of ways to detect alcohol using NIRS (Near InfraRed Spectrscopy) or FTIR, but they are all quite complicated in that they are using and analyzing a very wide spectrum. In ...
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23 views
Why does energy need to be “compensated” in order for solvation to occur?
I am currently learning about the physical properties of alcohols.
I understand that the main intermolecular forces between alcohols and water are hydrogen bonds. When these two are mixed, the ...
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Butan-2-ol to Butanone using only H2SO4 as oxidising agent
Is it possible to oxidise the alcohol in question with just concentrated H2SO4 (without the need for a Chromic substance) and if so what does this mechanism look like?
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188 views
Mechanism of ring formation of an epoxide under acidic aqueous conditions
I am trying to figure out the mechanism of this reaction:
I think the $\ce{H+}$ will first attack the oxygen of the epoxide and another $\ce{OH-}$ will be added to the most substituted carbocation, ...
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1answer
49 views
Can you lower the alcohol concentration of a drink using vegetable oils?
The log POW of ethanol is −0.18 according to Wikipedia, i.e. in a two-phase system ethanol would preferrably accumulate in the aqueous phase, but not by much.
Suppose I wanted to lower the alcohol ...
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Using Wilkinson's Catalyst to reduce esters?
I was solving some questions on alcohols when I came upon a question in which it was asked that whether esters can be reduced using hydrogen in the prescence of wilkinson's catalyst.
Now I know that ...
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58 views
Why primary alcohol follows SN1 mechanism?
Example 2: Identify all the products formed in the following reaction and indicate the major product.
Solution: Three products will be formed in the given reaction as shown below:
In ...
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40 views
Why is Lithium Chloride (LiCl) soluble in alcohols?
According do J.D. Lee's Concise Inorganic Chemistry, LiCl is soluble in alcohols because it has some covalent nature, althought it is mainly polar.
Why would LiCl have covalent character? Why doesn't ...
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Potassium ethoxide
Is it possible to make potassium ethoxide by mixing $\ce{KOH}$ and $\ce{EtOH}$ in the presence of a dehydrating agent like $\ce{MgSO4}$ or $\ce{CaO}$ or $\ce{K2CO3}$?
The easy way is adding metallic ...
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Victor Mayer test for 2° alcohol
In the last step in Victor Mayer test for 2° alcohol, why do we need to add an alkali like NaOH? Isn't pseudo nitrolic acid that is formed already blue in colour?
What would be the reaction of alkali ...
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129 views
Does propylene glycol dissolve plastic?
According to Médecins Sans Frontières propylene glycol can dissolve plastic:
As propylene glycol can dissolve plastic... (Source).
Is this claim true? This seems rather spurious to me. If it ...
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32 views
How do I draw a curly arrow diagram for the oxidation of primary alcohol to an aldehyde and subsequently to a carboxylic acid? [duplicate]
I've determined the chemical equations for both the mechanisms, but I'm unable to draw curly arrow diagrams for the two reactions using potassium dichromate as the oxidising reagent. I'm not sure how ...
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1answer
52 views
Ester of glycerol and glyceric acid
What is the ester of glycerol ($\ce{C3H8O3}$) and glyceric acid ($\ce{C3H6O4}$)? I couldn't find any information about it online, so is this reaction even possible?
I'm not sure what would happen, ...
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1answer
51 views
Is 99% Isopropyl Alcohol sold in stores really 99%?
My understanding is that an azeotropic mixture of isopropanol and water is 91%. This makes sense as to why there are so many brands of rubbing alcohol sold at 91%. There are also some sold as 99%, ...
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1answer
53 views
Techniques to extract lipids
I am planning an experiment on how to isolate casein and part of the process involves removing any lipids that may still be in it after filtering the precipitated casein out of the milk. I have read ...
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Comparing acidity in 3,4-dihydroxyfuran-2(5H)-one and 2,3-dihydroxycyclopent-2-en-1-one
I have two compounds with two hydrogens namely (a),(b),(c) and (d). I have to compare the acidity of the following hydrogens.
My approach:
I removed the hydrogen atoms one by one and compared the ...
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1answer
87 views
Dependence of primary alcohol oxidation on presence of water and “strong” or “weak” oxidants
It is known that the oxidation of primary alcohols can result in aldehydes or carboxylic acids. The product obtained from the reaction is described as dependent on reagents and conditions;[1]
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1answer
50 views
Reaction of cyclobutylmethanol with HX
I am interested in the reaction of cyclobutylmethanol with HX where these are the only reagents.
My question is whether the reaction proceeds via SN1 or SN2. My reference text insists that primary ...
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47 views
Ethyl Acetate and other Solvents in a mixture: miscibility and stability
I was wondering about a heterogeneous solvent mixture containing multiple alcohols such as IPA, Ethanol, methanol etc. Would EtOAc (Ethyl Acetate) play nice in these mixtures at low volumes such as 1 ...
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1answer
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Chemical shifts of OH protons
The chemical shift of a proton is an indication of the amount of shielding it receives from the electron density on it or other magnetic anisotropy effects present in the molecule. For the protons of ...
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1answer
53 views
What is the name of this organic compound?
The organic compound in question is shown above. This is how I tried to name it:
Start from the left hanging $\ce{H_3C}$.
$\ce{OH}$ gets the number 2 and $\ce{NH_2}$ gets 6. The lowest numbers ...
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41 views
Should I use MCPBA here?
I came across a question that asked for a method to convert propene to glycerol. I used the method in the pic, but I'm worried about two steps-
Step-2, This reaction is just made up by myself! I'm ...
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1answer
59 views
Acid catalysed dehydration of unsymmetric alcohols
How to find the major product of acid catalysed dehydration of unsymmetric alcohols. For example, in the dehydration of butan-2-ol using conc. H2SO4, which is the major product? But-1-ene or But-2-ene?...
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Is the negative excess volume of ethanol/water the cause of my math error?
I have a binary mixture, say ethanol at $90\%wt$ ethanol, $10\%wt$ water. According to Perry's Chemical Engineers' Handbook 9th Ed., that mixture has a density of $0.81797g/cc$ (at $20^{\circ}C$). ...
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Where will a H+ attack on 6-hydroxyhexan-2-one? [closed]
Where will a H+ attack on 6-hydroxyhexan-2-one? Protonation can take place either on the ketone or the alcohol. So where will it attack? In short, on which of the two oxygen atoms is electron density ...
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114 views
Dehydrogenation/Dehydration of alcohol with Cu
When the vapours of a 1°,2°,3° alcohol are passed over red hot Cu powder at 573K, 1°,2° alcohol undergo dehydrogenation to form an aldehyde or ketone respectively and 3° alcohol undergoes ...
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1answer
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Where will the positive charge shift in the E1 mechanism of dehydration of an alcohol? [closed]
My Attempt: according to me the double bond should be in position no. 2 but the correct answer has a double bond in position no.1. Why is it so?
Thanks in advance.
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2answers
44 views
Acetal Formation Mechanism
In this example, why is there is a ring formation with the attack of the OH from the intermediate itself rather than a continuation of addition? I know my proposed product is wrong, however I just ...
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2answers
217 views
The intrinsic electron-withdrawing nature of alkyl groups
What you are about to read may be a very mind-boggling paragraph but please do not regard it as nonsense. Please think through it thoroughly.
In Chapter 6 of Organic Chemistry (4th ed.) by Maitland ...
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Major product of isomerization reaction
I am trying to come up with a logical mechanism for the following transformation, where 2-methylenecyclobutan-1-ol is converted to cyclopentanone under acidic conditions:
What I have tried to do was ...
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Addition of NaBH4 and LiAlH4
NaBH4 and LiAlH4 will be a source for the hydride ion and reaction will begin with addition of hydride by displacing the carbonyl group.
But I am not sure will it attack both the carbonyl or only one....
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1answer
209 views
Is cyclohexanol or hexanol more acidic?
If we had a hexane ring with an $\ce{OH}$ substituent vs. a hexane chain with an $\ce{OH}$ substituent, which of the two, if any, would result in a weaker conjugate base?
My confusion: The ring ...
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1answer
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Protection of Alcohol
I carried out an experiment and it goes like this:
2-bromoethanol + dihydropyran (DHP) ---> 2-(2-bromoethoxy)oxane
Acidic ion exchange resin was added alongside as a source of H+ ions (catalyst).
...
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Evaporation of isopropyl alcohol [closed]
Does evaporation of isopropyl alcohol at room temperature leaves residue? and why it is able to evaporate although it does not reach its boiling point?
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1answer
222 views
Are secondary alcohols more easily oxidised as compared to phenol?
Which among the following compounds is oxidised most easily?
2-propanol ($\ce{CH3CHOHCH3}$)
phenol ($\ce{PhOH}$)
ethoxyethane ($\ce{Et-O-Et}$)
1-methyl cyclohexanol
The answer given ...
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1answer
199 views
When does a pinacol undergo dehydration or rearrangement?
What happens when the above pinacol is treated with -
(a) conc. sulphuric acid
(b) dil. sulphuric acid
I'm confused between pinacol rearrangement and dehydration (E1 or E2?), as both possibilities ...
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How does alcohol infusion (maceration) work chemically?
To make liqueurs (e.g. lemon liqueur) you take some fruit and/or plant and let them macerate in pure alcohol to make the alcohol have the fragrance and color of the original ingredient.
How does it ...
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1answer
93 views
Why are lower alcohols less flammable than their corresponding alkanes?
How to compare the general trend in amount of combustion in lower alcohols? (upto five/six carbons) Does the branching or straight chain have any effect on combustion?
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1answer
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Rearrangement of 8a-ethyl-1,3,4,8a-tetrahydronaphthalen-4a(2H)-ol [closed]
really sorry for that previous post. I was actually half-asleep when I posted that q, hence the q was unclear. I am again reposting that question
The answer is given as A. Can anyone please explain ...
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2answers
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Reaction involving opening of epoxides
The following question was asked in an exam today:
I chose the option (a), but the correct answer given was (b). Following is the explanation why I chose (b):
Step 1 (Reaction with $\ce{PBr_3}$): $...
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1answer
3k views
What is an aromatic alcohol?
The following question was given in NCERT Exemplar Problems (Class XII):
According to Wikipedia:
In organic chemistry, the aromatic alcohols or aryl-alcohols are a
class of chemical compounds ...
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1answer
79 views
'Alcohol Free' toiletries
Sometimes I see 'alcohol free' written in big letters on toiletry bottles, such as on deodorants and shaving foams.
You would think that the toiletries bearing these words contain 100% no alcohol, ...
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2answers
161 views
Mixing alcohol with aluminum sulphate
I am trying to make a mixture of the following ingredients: distilled water, alcohol, aluminum sulphate and glycerin.
The problem is that when I add alcohol to the water and aluminum sulphate mixture ...
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1answer
101 views
How is more than one pinacolone is possible?
This question came in one of my school tests. They had given us an unsymmetrical pinacol i.e 1,1-diphenyl-2-methylpropane-1,2-diol and asked us whether it will give only one pinacolone or not.
...
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1answer
997 views
Conversion of an alcohol to a methyl group
I'm only interested in the first conversion: D to E.
I've been thinking about this for a little bit. My first thought was to use $\ce{TsCl}$ to make a good leaving group then a $\ce{Me}$ nucleophile. ...
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2answers
1k views
Why ethanol doesn't react with NaOH ,while methanol does? [duplicate]
Why ethanol doesn't react with NaOH ,while methanol does?
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1answer
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What are the products of the reaction of methoxypropane with HBr?
The products of the reaction of methoxypropane ($\ce{CH3CH2CH2OCH3}$) with $\ce{HBr}$ are?
In my opinion, the products should be: bromopropane ($\ce{CH3CH2CH2Br}$) + methanol ($\ce{CH3OH}$). The ...
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0answers
68 views
Can ethylene glycol give victor mayer test?
I think there should be no problem for it to give red coloration in victor mayer test as a standard primary alcohol but a problem I encountered showed it otherwise.
Therefore, I would like to have a ...
