MINISTRY OF EDUCATION

SECONDARY ENGAGEMENT PROGRAMME

GRADE 11

CHEMISTRY

WEEK 6 LESSON 1

Topic: Organic Copounds

Sub-topic: Alcohols (Alkanols)

Objective: Given the general formula of alcohol students will draw correctly the
structures of the first four alcohol members.

Content

Alcohol is an organic compound that carries at least one hydroxyl functional group (−OH) bound
to a saturated carbon backbone (chain). The general formula of alcohol is CnH2n + 1OH. Where
‘n’ is greater than but equal to one (1).

Functional Group of Alcohol

 Table Showing Alcohols

Molecular Formula Structure Name

CH3OH Methanol

C2H5OH Ethanol

Propanol
C3H7OH

C4H9OH Butanol

Naming Alcohols

STEP 1: Name the parent compound. Find the longest chain that has the hydroxyl (OH)
substituent attached (replace the -e ending with –ol).

The compound below haS 4 Carbon which corresponds to the name butane, however, due to the
presence of a -OH group the “ANE” from alkane is replaced by “OL.” Making it Butanol.

OH

C C C C

STEP 2: Number the carbon atoms in the main chain. Begin at the end nearer the hydroxyl
group, ignoring the location of other substituents.
 Examine the compound below for the location of the OH group. The carbon nearest to the OH
group will be numbered as “1”

OH

C C C C

4 3 2 1

STEP 3: Write the name, placing the number that locates the hydroxyl group immediately before
the parent compound name.

Thus, the name of the compound will be 1-butanol.

Properties of Alcohols

1) They are colourless and sweet-smelling.

2) Less volatile than an alkane or ester of similar mass, because the polar hydroxyl (-OH)
group causes hydrogen bonding between the molecules. This bonding adds to the Van der
Waals forces of attraction between the hydrocarbon parts.
3) Alcohols are soluble in water. The hydroxyl group in alcohol is involved in the formation
of intermolecular hydrogen bonding. Thus, hydrogen bonds are formed between water and
alcohol molecules which make alcohol soluble in water. However, the solubility of alcohol
decreases with the increase in the size of the alkyl group (the rest of the chain minus the –
OH group).
4) The non-polar hydrocarbon chain allows alcohol to dissolve some non-polar compounds.
5) Alcohols generally have higher boiling points in comparison to other hydrocarbons having
equal molecular masses. This is due to the presence of intermolecular hydrogen bonding
between hydroxyl groups of alcohol molecules. In general, the boiling point of alcohol
increases with an increase in the number of carbon atoms in the aliphatic carbon chain. On
the other hand, the boiling point decreases with an increase in branching in aliphatic carbon
chains since the Van der Waals forces decrease with a decrease in surface area.

References

https://chemed.chem.purdue.edu/genchem/topicreview/bp/2organic/alcohols.html#boil
https://sites.google.com/a/ocsb.ca/sch-3/sch-4u/unit-2--organic-chemistry