- #1
MycelliumMan
- 4
- 0
I'm confused as to what alcohols really are. I keep reading that an alcohol is an "ALKYL" group with a hydroxyl group attached to it but then I see that definition being contradicted by the exact same person that wrote it. The claim its an ALKYL group but they give examples which list heteroatoms.
At first I thought an alcohol was a hydrocarbon with a hydroxyl group attached to it and I really liked that definition of alcohols because it allowed me to easily identify them but other people tell me that an alcohol is ANY molecule with a hydroxyl group attached to it.
Which is it? Is an alcohol a hydrocarbon (no heteroatoms) with a hydroxyl group attached to it or is an alcohol any molecule with a hydroxyl group attached to it.
Also I'm wondering the same thing about ether. Are the two groups attached to ethers O always alkyl groups as is the case with Diethyl ether or is ether just ANY molecule that has its two sides connected by an oxygen atom?
At first I thought an alcohol was a hydrocarbon with a hydroxyl group attached to it and I really liked that definition of alcohols because it allowed me to easily identify them but other people tell me that an alcohol is ANY molecule with a hydroxyl group attached to it.
Which is it? Is an alcohol a hydrocarbon (no heteroatoms) with a hydroxyl group attached to it or is an alcohol any molecule with a hydroxyl group attached to it.
Also I'm wondering the same thing about ether. Are the two groups attached to ethers O always alkyl groups as is the case with Diethyl ether or is ether just ANY molecule that has its two sides connected by an oxygen atom?