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Question

Explain why propanol has a higher boiling point than that butane?


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Solution

Reason for: High boiling point of Propanol than Butane:-

  • Propanol (H3C-CH2-CH2-OH) has a higher boiling point than that butane (H3C-CH2-CH2-CH3).
  • The boiling point majorly depends upon 2 factors: Intermolecular bonding and Intermolecular forces

Intermolecular bonding:-

  • The -OH group in propanol forms intermolecular hydrogen bonding.
  • Thus it requires a lot of energy to break this hydrogen bond, as a result, the boiling point increases.
  • But butane cannot form such bonds since it has no OH group.
  • Thus boiling point of butane is lower than propanol.

Intermolecular forces:-

  • In the case of butane: The weak van der Waals force of attraction is the only force between the molecules.
  • In the case of propanol: The formation of intermolecular hydrogen bonding and Van der Waals forces dominates.
  • The effect of intermolecular forces and bonding are fully supported by the boiling point values recorded in theoretical data: The boiling point of propanol is 391K and the boiling point of butane is 309K.

Hence, the hydroxyl group in propanol forms strong intermolecular forces of attraction in propanol which results in a high boiling point of propanol than butane.


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