Alcohols & Carboxylic Acids

The alcohol and carboxylic acid homologous series, making ethanol, oxidation, and esters.

Alcohols

Contain the –OH group, general formula $C_nH_{2n+1}OH$ (methanol, ethanol). Ethanol is a fuel and solvent. It can be made by:

Fermentation of sugars by yeast (anaerobic): glucose → ethanol + CO₂ (~30 °C, renewable, slow, impure).

Hydration of ethene with steam and a catalyst (fast, pure, but uses a finite resource).

Alcohols burn and are oxidised (e.g. by warming with acidified potassium dichromate, orange → green) to carboxylic acids.

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Alcohols

Contain the –OH group, general formula

C_nH_{2n+1}OH

(methanol, ethanol). Ethanol is a fuel and solvent. It can be made by:

Fermentation of sugars by yeast (anaerobic): glucose → ethanol + CO₂ (~30 °C, renewable, slow, impure).

Hydration of ethene with steam and a catalyst (fast, pure, but uses a finite resource).

Alcohols burn and are oxidised (e.g. by warming with acidified potassium dichromate, orange → green) to carboxylic acids.