on alcohols

[maskman`]

why are alcohols so important. we need to study a whole chapter about it. i know the following facts

1) it is used to make ethanol a clean fuel that in theory would not increase the amount of carbon emissions in the atmosphere.

2）it is used to make ethene under the presence of Al203 catalyst which lowers the activation energy for this dehydration to take place.

3) it is used to make ester with the help of carboxylic acid.

4) it is used to make carbonyl compounds by its oxidation by k2cr2o7. it turns yellow green.

5) it is used halogenoalkenes by nucleophilic substitution reaction.

6） it can even react with sodium for where sodium attacks the electron dense oxygen atom in the 0h group and replaces Hydrogen.

why are alcohols so important ? are these points enough to describe the wonder of what alcohol is ?

[ewmon]

I would say that they are very versatile, but in what regards are you studying them?

 

I would guess that they are the most common non-aqueous solvents, and methanol is considered as the "universal solvent".

 

Actually, I think the definition of alcohols (ie, having a =OH group) is too broad to have much meaning. Cholesterol is an alcohol, which our bodies need. Ethanol is an alcohol that our bodies can tolerate somewhat. Methanol is rather poisonous to us. There are cyclic alcohols, acyclic alcohols, simple alcohols, branched alcohols, etc depending on shape of their carbon "backbones".

 

It all depends why you are studying them.

[maskman`]

I would say that they are very versatile, but in what regards are you studying them?

I am trying to understand the way they react and interact with other compounds and their uses in both physical and chemical as

 

Actually, I think the definition of alcohols (ie, having a =OH
group) is too broad to have much meaning. Cholesterol is an alcohol,
which our bodies need. Ethanol is an alcohol that our bodies can
tolerate somewhat. Methanol is rather poisonous to us. There are cyclic
alcohols, acyclic alcohols, simple alcohols, branched alcohols, etc
depending on shape of their carbon "backbones".

i really want to know the basics first and move on to more complex ones. i didnt know cholestrol was a alcohol! wow. really keeps some insights in biology where cholestrol is a very discussed topic. i heard about ethanol and methanol from my college though.

why do shapes play sooo much influence on the chemical properites of an alcohol?

[weiming1998]

I would say that they are very versatile, but in what regards are you studying them?

I am trying to understand the way they react and interact with other compounds and their uses in both physical and chemical as

 

Actually, I think the definition of alcohols (ie, having a =OH

group) is too broad to have much meaning. Cholesterol is an alcohol,

which our bodies need. Ethanol is an alcohol that our bodies can

tolerate somewhat. Methanol is rather poisonous to us. There are cyclic

alcohols, acyclic alcohols, simple alcohols, branched alcohols, etc

depending on shape of their carbon "backbones".

 

i really want to know the basics first and move on to more complex ones. i didnt know cholestrol was a alcohol! wow. really keeps some insights in biology where cholestrol is a very discussed topic. i heard about ethanol and methanol from my college though.

why do shapes play sooo much influence on the chemical properites of an alcohol?

 

Because an alcohol, after all, is just any molecule with an OH group. The rest of the molecule could be anything from just a simple saturated chain of carbon and hydrogen to ring/rings made of carbon and hydrogen to branching structures containing both rings, carbon hydrogen chains, double/triple bonds, and other functional groups. It is like the difference between a frog and an elephant. They both have four legs, but they are drastically different in most other aspects, and thus doesn't even look remotely similar.

Edited February 17, 2013 by weiming1998

[maskman`]

 

Because an alcohol, after all, is just any molecule with an OH group. The rest of the molecule could be anything from just a simple saturated chain of carbon and hydrogen to ring/rings made of carbon and hydrogen to branching structures containing both rings, carbon hydrogen chains, double/triple bonds, and other functional groups. It is like the difference between a frog and an elephant. They both have four legs, but they are drastically different in most other aspects, and thus doesn't even look remotely similar.

wow never thought of it that way