Question

Phenol is having more acidic character than alcohol. Explain why?

Answer 1

Phenol is having more acidic character than alcohol:

• The acidity of any compound is generally defined as the tendency to release or donate hydrogen ions.
• In the case of phenol, it loses its hydrogen ion to form the phenoxide ion which gets stabilized by the delocalization of electrons that takes place in phenols by resonance.
• Also, in the formed phenoxide ion, the negative charge on the oxygen atom is delocalized around the ring or it gets equally distributed through the compounds.
• Also, the presence of the electron-withdrawing group increases the acidity of phenol by stabilizing the resulting phenoxide ion.

• However, in the case of ethanol, it is very tough to remove hydrogen ions which makes it less acidic than phenol.

Hence, the reason why phenol is having more acidic character than alcohol has been explained above.