Hydroxyl Compounds

Question 1

What are the classification of alcohol

Answer 1

• Primary
• Secondary
• Tertiary

Question 2

How can you distinguish between primary, secondary and tertiary alcohols?

Answer 2

• Tertiary cannot be oxidised and therefore there’s no color change (remains orange) when heated with acidified potassium dichromate (vi)
• Primary and secondary alcohol are able to be oxidised and so there would be a color change from orange to green
• You could mn further tests on the resulting solutions from primary and secondary alcohols by using fehling’s or tollens’ reagent to distinguish between Aldehydes and ketones