Alcohol
Reactions
The plastics industry is a major consumer of all types of alcohols, because they are intermediates in a large variety of polymer syntheses. The hydroxyl group is the part of an alcohol that makes the molecule relatively reactive and thus very useful in synthesis. Dozens of reactions are possible. Important esters made from ethanol include the insecticide malathion, the fragrance compound ethyl cinnamate, and the polymer building blocks ethyl acrylate and ethyl methacrylate. Examples of esters made from methanol include methyl salicylate (oil of wintergreen), the perfume ingredients methyl paraben and methyl benzoate, and the polymer starting material methyl acrylate. High-molecule-weight alcohols converted into esters are widely used as plasticizers in the polymer industry, and very high-molecule-weight alcohols with 12-18 carbon atoms are used to make biodegradable surfactants (detergents).
Alcohols can also be oxidized. If the alcohol's hydroxyl group is at the end of a carbon atom chain, an oxidation reaction produces either a carboxylic acid or an aldehyde. If the hydroxyl group is attached in the middle of a straight carbon atom chain, an oxidation reaction produces a ketone. An alcohol whose hydroxyl group is attached to a carbon atom that also has three other carbon branches attached to it cannot be oxidized.
The formation of double bonds in hydrocarbons can be accomplished by the dehydration of alcohols. Acid added to the alcohol removes not only the hydroxyl group, but also a hydrogen atom from an adjacent carbon atom. The reaction is called a dehydration, because H-OH (water) is removed from the molecule and a double bond forms between the two carbon atoms.
Resources
Books
Bailey, James E. Ullmann's Encyclopedia of Industrial Chemistry. New York: VCH, 2003.
Bruice. Paula. Organic Chemistry. 3rd ed. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 2001.
Meyers, Robert A. Encyclopedia of Analytical Chemistry: Applications, Theory and Instrumentation. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 2000.
Szmant, H. H. Organic Building Blocks of the Chemical Industry. New York: Wiley, 1989.
Gail B. C. Marsella
Additional topics
Science EncyclopediaScience & Philosophy: Adrenoceptor (adrenoreceptor; adrenergic receptor) to AmbientAlcohol - History, Names, Properties, And Uses, Production, Reactions