ORGANIC CHEMISTRY

The Hydroxy (—OH)

Functional Group
Group 1 Presentation
Lesson Outcomes
At the end of the lesson:

01 You should be define the

You should be able to observe and describe the

02 properties of materials under different conditions.

You should be able to communicate observations

03 and ideas about material properties using

diagrams and charts.
 Introduction
The hydroxyl group (—OH) is found in the alcohol and phenol functional groups.
(Note: that’s not the same as hydroxide, OH- , which is ionic.) In alcohols, a hydroxyl
group is connected to a carbon atom while in phenols, —OH is connected to a benzene
ring. (The “parent” molecule of this class is also named phenol: PhOH or C6H5OH.)
When two carbon groups are connected by single bonds to an oxygen, this is classified
as the ether functional group.

Classification of Alcohols
Alcohols are classified as primary
(1°), secondary (2°), or tertiary (3°) depending on whether the
carbon atom to which the –OH group is attached is directly bonded
to one, two, or three other carbon atoms respectively
 H R” R”
/ / /
R-C-OH R-C-OH R-C-OH
/ / / Chemical Property
H H R
primary alcohol secondary alcohol tertiary alcohol

Accordingly, alcohols are also classified as monohydroxy, dihydroxy, trihydroxy, etc., based on the number of
hydroxyl groups per molecule

Names and Classification of

Class Alcohols