CHEM 281 Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: Nucleophilic Substitution, Markovnikov'S Rule, Alcohol Dehydrogenase
12 Jun 2017
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Alcohols: alcohols comprise an important class of chemicals, and find many uses, methanol (ch3oh or meoh), sometimes called wood alcohol because of its traditional method of preparation, is a common solvent for many processes. It is a cns depressant and damages optical nerves, leading to blindness and/or death. Etoh can be prepared from the fermentation of sugars, and this process can be considered the ancestor of organic chemistry. Etoh is often fermented from grains and is thus sometimes called grain alcohol . Ethanol is the only alcohol you can drink, and it is often denatured with meoh when it is not sold as a beverage. Denatured in this context means rendering unfit for consumption while retaining activity . The fermentation process can only allow you to reach about 15% etoh before the yeast just can"t go on. For strong alcohols (vodka, rum, whiskey, etc. ) the mixture must be distilled to separate the etoh from the water.
