Phenols

Glycerol is a trihydric alcohol. It is

It contains three hydroxyl group. It is present in nature in oils and fats as its carboxylic esters.

Phenol reacts with chloroform and to give hydroxy benzaldehyde or salicylaldehyde. In this reaction dichlorocarbene electrophile is generated. This reaction is called Reimer-Tiemann reaction.

Dehydration of alcohol involves the loss of two atoms or groups from the adjacent carbon atoms, hence it is an example of ( - elimination reaction).

The reaction takes place as
Since, in this reaction, is substituted by the attack of nucleophile , it is a nucleophilic substitution reaction. Moreover, the rate of the reaction depends upon the concentration of and both, so it is a bimolecular reaction.

Methyl magnesium iodide (Grignard reagent) readily gives alkane when reacts with a protonic compound like ethyl alcohol.

Because of the above reason, ethyl alcohol cannot be used as a solvent for methyl magnesium iodide.

In chiral compound, a carbon atom is attached by four different groups. -methyl- -butanol is a chiral compound because it consists an asymmetric carbon atom or chiral centre.

Methanol is also known as wood spirit. It was produced by destructive distillation of wood.