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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Reaction between 1-methylcyclopentanol and potassium permanganate
In my basic organic chemistry class, I learned that only primary and secondary alcohols undergo oxidation (using $\ce{KMnO4}$).
However, what is the outcome of reacting tertiary alcohol (1-...
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List of primary, secondary and tertiary alcohol [closed]
Is there a list of primary, secondary and tertiary alcohols examples anywhere?
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Enthalpy of combustion of 1-butanol
1-butanol $\ce{C4H10O}$
So I have absolutely no idea how to find the enthalpy and I did some looking on the internet with no use since I don't understand.
I came here hoping someone generous could ...
user80318
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Comparing the emission spectrum of ethanol and mixture of alcohols
Sorry if this question has a simple answer, but I've been unable to find it elsewhere.
Using a diffraction grating, burning ethanol (99.9%) will produce a rainbow of colours. However, when burning ...
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what is mechanism for reaction phenol + dimethylsulphate -> anisole
Dimethyl sulphate breaks the oh bond and forms anisole. How does the reaction proceed?? is it oxygen lone pair attacks on sulphur which has partial positive charge?? the reaction takes place in ...
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Which functional group gets reduced first?
The following is a reduction reaction. In the reduction of 2 to 3, keto group undergoes reduction by nucleophillic addition.
Ester could undergo nucleophillic acyl substitution to give an aldo group, ...
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Oxidation of diols to dialdehydes
How could 1,4-butanediol be converted to 1,4-butandial (succinic aldehyde)? I thought of simple oxidation with $\ce{CuO}$ but apparently it yields gamma-butyrolactone according to erowid
and this ...
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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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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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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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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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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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Why does the reaction of the primary alcohol cyclopentylmethanol with hydrogen bromide follow 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 this reaction ...
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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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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 ...
user76386
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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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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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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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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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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]
"...
user74885
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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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Why is ethanol distilled off before adding water in the first step of a malonic synthesis?
I am doing a malonic synthesis shown below, and I wonder why I should distill ethanol off before adding water in the first step of the reaction (First I add absolute ethanol and solid sodium).
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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 below its boiling point [closed]
Would total evaporation of isopropanol (isopropyl alcohol) at room temperature leave residue? And, why it is able to evaporate although it does not reach its boiling point?
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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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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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Benzene from cyclopropane-1,2,3-triyltrimethanol in acidic medium
What is the mechanism of the conversion of cyclopropane-1,2,3-triyltrimethanol to benzene in in acidic medium?
After performing E1 thrice I was expecting 1,2,3-trimethylidenecyclopropane to form ...
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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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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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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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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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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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'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, ...
user60221