Question

phenol is an acid but it does not react with sodium bicarbonate soln.why?

Answer 1

Phenol is acidic in nature but not that much acidic to react with NaHCO3. Phenols are weakly acidic in nature. They turn blue litmus red and react with alkali metals and alkalies to form their salts. Phenol is a weaker acid than carboxylic acid, hence does not react with sodium carbonate and sodium bicarbonate.The acidic character of phenol is due to the presence of polar O-H group. Because of larger electro negativity of oxygen atom, the electron pair of O-H bond is withdrawn more towards O and H+ ion can be easily released in aqueous solution.