The Alcohol Family Structure

General Formula: CₙH₂ₙ₊₁OH

• All alcohols contain the -OH functional group
• The hydrocarbon chain can be any length
• Example: Ethanol = C₂H₅OH = C₂H₆ with one H replaced by OH

The First Four Alcohols (Essential to memorise!):

1. Methanol (CH₃OH) — simplest alcohol; TOXIC — can cause blindness; used as antifreeze and fuel

2. Ethanol (C₂H₅OH) — the alcohol in drinks; biofuel and industrial solvent

3. Propanol (C₃H₇OH) — industrial solvent; used in hand sanitisers

4. Butanol (C₄H₉OH) — potential biofuel alternative; industrial applications

Figure 1: The first four alcohols, all sharing the -OH functional group. Naming uses the same prefixes as alkanes (meth-, eth-, prop-, but-) with the suffix "-anol".

This deep dive covers The Alcohol Family Structure within Alcohols for GCSE Chemistry. Revise Alcohols in Organic Chemistry for GCSE Chemistry with 22 exam-style questions and 15 flashcards. This topic appears regularly enough that it should still be part of a steady revision cycle. It is section 2 of 13 in this topic. Use this deep dive to connect the idea to the wider topic before moving on to questions and flashcards.