Alcohol

In general usage, alcohol (from Arabic al-khwl الكحول, or al-ghawl الغول) refers almost always to ethanol, also known as grain alcohol, and often to any beverage that contains ethanol (see alcoholic beverage). This sense underlies the term alcoholism (addiction to alcohol). Other forms of alcohol are usually described with a clarifying adjective, as in isopropyl alcohol or by the suffix -ol, as in isopropanol.

Structure

The functional group of an alcohol is a hydroxyl group bonded to an sp3 hybridized carbon. It can therefore be regarded as a derivative of water, with an alkyl group replacing one of the hydrogens. If an aryl group is present rather than an alkyl, the compound is generally called a phenol rather than an alcohol. The oxygen in an alcohol has a bond angle of around 109° (c.f. 104.5° in water), and two nonbonded electron pairs. The O-H bond in methanol (CH3OH) is around 0.96 Å (96 pm) in length.

Related Topics:
Functional group - Hydroxyl group - Water - Alkyl - Aryl - Phenol - Å - Pm

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Primary, secondary, and tertiary alcohols

There are three major subsets of alcohols- 'primary' (1°), 'secondary' (2°) and 'tertiary' (3°), based upon the number of carbons the C-OH carbon (shown in red) is bonded to. Ethanol is the simplest 'primary' alcohol. The simplest secondary alcohol is isopropanol (propan-2-ol), and a simple tertiary alcohol is tert-butanol (2-methylpropan-2-ol).

Related Topics:
Ethanol - Isopropanol - Butanol

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Methanol & ethanol

The simplest and most commonly used alcohols are methanol and ethanol (common names methyl alcohol and ethyl alcohol, respectively), which have the structures shown above.

Related Topics:
Methanol - Ethanol - Methyl - Ethyl

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Methanol was formerly obtained by the distillation of wood, and was called "wood alcohol". It is now a cheap commodity chemical produced by the high pressure reaction of carbon monoxide with hydrogen. In common usage, "alcohol" often refers simply to ethanol or "grain alcohol". Methylated spirits ("Meths"), also called "surgical spirits", is a form of ethanol rendered undrinkable by the addition of methanol. Aside from its major use in alcoholic beverages, ethanol is also used (though highly controlled) as an industrial solvent and raw material.

Related Topics:
Carbon monoxide - Hydrogen - Methylated spirits

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~