Question

Assertion: Alcohols are more easily protonated than phenols.

Reason: Alcohols undergo intermolecular hydrogen bonding due to the presence of highly electronegative oxygen.

• A. The assertion is true, but the Reason is false.
• B. Both Assertion and Reason are false.
• C. Both Assertion and Reason are true. The reason is the correct explanation of the Assertion.
• D. Both Assertion and Reason are true. The reason is not the correct explanation for Assertion.

Answer 1

The correct option is D

Both Assertion and Reason are true. The reason is not the correct explanation for Assertion.

Explanation for correct option:

(D) Both Assertion and Reason are true. The reason is not the correct explanation for Assertion.

• It is difficult to do protonation for phenol. This is due to resonance, which occurs in phenols, where the lone pairs of electrons on the oxygen of $\mathrm{O}-\mathrm{H}$are shared with the benzene ring.
• The lone pair is therefore not entirely present on oxygen.
• Alcohols can be protonated more readily than phenols.
• This is because the lack of resonance in alcohols causes the lone pairs of electrons on the oxygen atoms to be isolated. So, this is the correct reason for explaining the assertion and thus the correct option

Explanation for incorrect option:

(A) The assertion is true, but the Reason is false.

• Both assertion and reason are true. So, this is an incorrect option.

(B) Both Assertion and Reason are false.

• Both assertion and reason are true, but the reason does not explain the assertion correctly. So, this is an incorrect option.

(C) Both Assertion and Reason are true. The reason is the correct explanation for Assertion.

• Both Assertion and Reason are true. The reason for the protonation of alcohol is the incorrect explanation for the Assertion but here mentioned as correct. So, this is an incorrect option.

Hence, the correct option is (D) Both Assertion and Reason are true. The reason is not the correct explanation for Assertion.