Question

Which of the following is wood alcohol?
A.${\text{C}}{{\text{H}}_{\text{3}}}{\text{OH}}$
B.${{\text{C}}_{\text{2}}}{{\text{H}}_{\text{5}}}{\text{OH}}$
C.1-Butanol
D.2-Methyl 1-Propanol

Answer 1

Hint: Alcohol is an organic compound with an OH group and its IUPAC name ends with –ol. An example of this is methanol in which the OH group is attached to ${\text{C}}{{\text{H}}_{\text{3}}}$. Since all these options have an OH group and –ol in the IUPAC name, all these are alcohols. Option A is methanol and Option B is Ethanol. The formula for option C is ${\text{C}}{{\text{H}}_{\text{3}}}{\text{ - C}}{{\text{H}}_{\text{2}}}{\text{ - C}}{{\text{H}}_{\text{2}}}{\text{ - C}}{{\text{H}}_{\text{2}}}{\text{ - OH}}$ and option D has a molecular formula ${\text{C}}{{\text{H}}_{\text{3}}}{\text{ - CH(C}}{{\text{H}}_{\text{3}}}{\text{) - C}}{{\text{H}}_{\text{2}}}{\text{ - OH}}$.

Complete step by step answer:
You know that ${\text{C}}{{\text{H}}_{\text{3}}}{\text{OH}}$ is called methyl alcohol or methanol.
It is the simplest of alcohol series. It contains an OH group linked to a methyl group.
Methanol is also called wood alcohol because wood, on destructive distillation, gives methanol.
If you take a wood shaving and it is kept in water and boiled to a temperature of around 70 to 80 degree Celsius, wood breaks down and releases methanol, which on distillation gives more pure methanol. As we know methanol is a polar liquid at room temperature.
So, from the options, the most appropriate answer is ${\text{C}}{{\text{H}}_{\text{3}}}{\text{OH}}$, because it is a destructive distillation product of wood.
Methanol is synthesized by the reaction of carbon monoxide and hydrogen.
Methanol is also called a wood spirit.
Thus, the correct answer is ${\text{C}}{{\text{H}}_{\text{3}}}{\text{OH}}$.
The correct option is (A).


Note:Methanol is also called a Wood spirit. It is used as a solvent for many chemical reactions. It is used to denature Ethanol (${{\text{C}}_{\text{2}}}{{\text{H}}_{\text{5}}}{\text{OH}}$). The other names of wood alcohol are wood naphtha and methyl hydrate. Methanol is the simplest form of alcohol.