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Alcohols, Phenols And Ethers

Question
CBSEENCH12008394

Why is that phenol is acidic and hexanol is neutral towards a solution of NaOH?

Solution

Phenols are more reactive than alcohols. This is due to the fact that that the phenoxide ion produced by the loss of proton from phenol is highly stabilized by resonance while there is no such resonance stabilization of the cation formed by loss of protons from hexanol or any other alcohol.