The Foundations of Chemistry

The simplest phenol is called phenol.
The most common member of a class
of compounds is often called by the
class name. Salt, sugar, alcohol, and
phenol are examples.

ALCOHOLS AND PHENOLS

Alcohols and phenols contain the hydroxyl group (XOXH) as their functional group.

Alcoholsmay be considered to be derived from saturated or unsaturated hydrocarbons

by the replacement of at least one H atom by a hydroxyl group. The properties of alco-

hols result from a hydroxyl group attached to an aliphaticcarbon atom, XCXOXH.

Ethanol (ethyl alcohol) is the most common example (Figure 27-14).

When a hydrogen atom on an aromatic ring is replaced by a hydroxyl group (Figure

27-15), the resulting compound is known as a phenol.Such compounds behave more like

acids than alcohols. Alternatively, we may view alcohols and phenols as derivatives of water

in which one H atom has been replaced by an organic group.

H

HH

HH

H O H C COO H H

water ethanol phenol

27-9

TABLE 27-7 Some Organic Halides

Normal

Formula Structural Formula bp (°C) IUPAC Name Common Name

CH 3 Cl 23.8 chloromethane methyl chloride

CH 2 Cl 2 40.2 dichloromethane methylene chloride

CHCl 3 61 trichloromethane chloroform

CCl 4 76.8 tetrachloromethane carbon tetrachloride

CHCl 2 Br 90 bromodichloromethane —

H

H

H

C Cl

Cl

H

H

C Cl

Cl

Cl

HCCl

Cl

Cl

Cl

C Cl

Cl

Br

HCCl

See the Saunders Interactive
General Chemistry CD-ROM,
Screen 11.6, Reactions of Alcohols.