Ethers, alkyl halides, thiols, alcohols

Alcohols

Properties:

  • Boiling Point: Increases with carbon chain length due to van der Waals forces and hydrogen bonding.

  • Melting Point: Influenced by molecular packing; increases with chain length.

  • Solubility in Water: Decreases as the carbon chain length increases; short chains are highly soluble.

  • Reactivity:

    • Primary alcohols oxidize to aldehydes and further to carboxylic acids.

    • Secondary alcohols oxidize to ketones.

    • Tertiary alcohols are resistant to oxidation due to steric hindrance.

Types of Alcohols:

  • Primary: -OH bonded to a carbon attached to one other carbon.

  • Secondary: -OH bonded to a carbon attached to two other carbons.

  • Tertiary: -OH bonded to a carbon attached to three other carbons.

Ethers

Properties:

  • Polarity: Weakly polar; dipole moments cancel due to geometry.

  • Boiling Point: Lower than alcohols of similar molar mass; comparable to alkanes.

  • Solubility in Water: Slightly soluble for short chains; solubility decreases with increasing alkyl chain length.

Alkyl Halides

Properties:

  • Polarity: Polar molecules with a δ+ charge on carbon and δ- charge on halogen.

  • Boiling Point: Higher than alkanes due to dipole-dipole interactions; increases with halogen size and chain length.

  • Solubility: Insoluble in water; soluble in non-polar organic solvents.

  • Density: Denser than water for chlorine, bromine, and iodine compounds.

Types of Alkyl Halides:

  • Primary: Carbon bonded to the halogen is attached to one other carbon.

  • Secondary: Carbon bonded to the halogen is attached to two other carbons.

  • Tertiary: Carbon bonded to the halogen is attached to three other carbons.

Thiols

Properties:

  • Polarity: Weakly polar; S-H bond is less polar than O-H bond.

  • Boiling Point: Lower than alcohols due to weaker hydrogen bonding.

  • Solubility in Water: Lower than alcohols; short chains are slightly soluble, longer chains are insoluble.

  • Density: Increases with larger alkyl groups; generally less dense than water.