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Dehydration of Alcohols

Introduction When alcohol is allowed to react with protic acids, it is prone to lose a water molecule to form alkenes. This type of reaction is commonly known as dehydration of alcohols. This is a basic example of an elimination reaction. The mechanism rate is different for primary, secondary and tertiary alcohols. In the case … Read more

Oxidation of Alcohols

Introduction to oxidation of alcohols Oxidation of alcohols is a kind of organic reaction. Different types of alcohols oxidized to form aldehydes, ketones or acids. Thus this reaction is used to distinguish different types of alcohols, such as- primary, secondary or tertiary. Primary alcohols (R-CH2-OH) are oxidized to aldehydes (R-CHO) or to carboxylic acids (R-COOH), … Read more

Esterification

Esterification Definition Esterification is an equilibrium reaction to form ester mainly from alcohols and carboxylic acids. Esters can also be made from the reactions between acyl chlorides (acid chlorides) and alcohols, and from acid anhydrides and alcohols. Here carboxylic acid and alcohol reacts to form an ester. Thus this is an esterification reaction. Esterification can occur … Read more