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Alcohols and phenols

Core organic chemistry · Lesson 6 of 6

Lesson 6 of 6

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Lesson 6 of 6 · Core organic chemistry

Alcohols and phenols

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By the end you’ll be able to

Classify alcohols as primary, secondary or tertiary from their structures and relate classification to oxidation behaviour.
Describe methods of preparing alcohols, including hydration of alkenes and hydrolysis of halogenoalkanes, where these routes are specified.
Write equations for the combustion, oxidation, substitution and dehydration reactions of alcohols under stated conditions.

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Explain oxidation of primary alcohols to aldehydes and carboxylic acids and of secondary alcohols to ketones, including the choice of oxidising agent, distillation or reflux, and observation of colour change where applicable.

Describe elimination of water from alcohols to form alkenes and substitution by hydrogen halides or phosphorus halides to form halogenoalkanes where required by the specification.

Explain the acidity of phenol relative to aliphatic alcohols and write equations for the reactions of phenol with sodium and with aqueous sodium hydroxide.

Describe electrophilic substitution of phenol with bromine water and explain the observed rapid reaction and decolourisation with formation of 2,4,6-tribromophenol where this is specified.

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