Question

What are examples of primary alcohol?

Answer 1

Hint: Here, primary alcohol means that the alcohol group is attached to the primary carbon of the compound. If the alcohol group is not attached to the primary carbon, it is not called primary alcohol.

Complete step-by-step answer:
Here, we have to write the examples of primary alcohol. The first thing we need to know is that what primary alcohol is so that we don’t mix it with secondary and tertiary alcohol.
Now, primary alcohol is a compound in which the alcohol group is attached to the primary carbon. If the alcohol group is not attached to the primary carbon, it is not called primary alcohol.
If the alcohol group is attached to the secondary carbon, it is called secondary alcohol and if the alcohol group is attached to tertiary carbon, it is called tertiary alcohol.
In general, the chemical formula of a primary alcohol is given by \[-C{{H}_{2}}OH\] , the chemical formula of secondary alcohol is given by \[-CHROH\] and the chemical formula of tertiary alcohol is given by \[-C{{R}_{2}}OH\] .
Where R represents a carbon compound.
Some specific examples of primary alcohol are,
Methanol - \[C{{H}_{2}}OH\] (If no carbon compound is attached to the general formula, it is called methanol)
Ethanol - \[C{{H}_{3}}C{{H}_{2}}OH\]
Propanol - \[C{{H}_{3}}C{{H}_{2}}C{{H}_{2}}OH\]
Butanol - \[C{{H}_{3}}C{{H}_{2}}C{{H}_{2}}C{{H}_{2}}OH\] , and so on.
Thus, in this way you can attach more and different carbon groups to the general formula and make different primary alcohols.

Note: Alcohols are organic molecules containing a hydroxyl functional group connected to an alkyl or aryl group (ROH). If the hydroxyl carbon only has a single R group, it is known as primary alcohol. If it has two R groups, it is a secondary alcohol, and if it has three R groups, it is a tertiary alcohol.