Question

Functionality of phenol is

Answer 1

Structure of Phenol:-

1. Phenol, also known as carbolic acid is an aromatic chemical with the ${\mathrm{C}}_6{\mathrm{H}}_5\mathrm{OH}$.
2. A hydroxyl group $(-\mathrm{OH})$ is attached to the phenyl group $(-{\mathrm{C}}_6{\mathrm{H}}_5)$.
3. Being an aromatic compound, it possesses $4\mathrm{n}+2$ double bonds and also forms a ring-like structure.
4. Inside the ring structure it has 3 double bonds and 3 single bonds.
5. The structure of Phenol ${\mathrm{C}}_6{\mathrm{H}}_5\mathrm{OH}$ is:

Functionality of Phenol:-

1. Phenol's functionality is determined by the reactivities of the carbon atoms (single-bonded ones) and not the 3 double bonds.
2. Phenol is a weak acid, but it is an extremely hazardous chemical compound.
3. Phenol undergoes electrophilic substitution reactions with certain chemicals, like halogenation, which makes it reactive.
4. The species' ortho-para carbon reactivity gets increased due to the presence of the hydroxyl group in the phenyl ring.
5. As a result of this, Phenol undergoes electrophilic substitution reaction.
6. Phenol is routinely poly substituted because of the hydroxyl group $(-\mathrm{OH})$ present which is highly reactive,
7. Thus in order to avoid this poly substitution, certain non-polar solvents such as $C{S}_2$ or $CC{l}_4$ are used for the reaction to be carried out, also a low temperature is maintained.
8. From the reaction of Bromine with Phenol, in presence of $C{S}_2$ at $273\mathrm{K}$ we can see that 2-bromophenol (o-bromophenol) and 4-bromophenol (p-bromophenol) are formed, where o-bromophenol is the minor and p-bromophenol is the major product :