Dictionary Definition
alcohol
Noun
1 a liquor or brew containing alcohol as the
active agent; "alcohol (or drink) ruined him" [syn: alcoholic
beverage, intoxicant, inebriant]
2 any of a series of volatile hydroxyl compounds
that are made from hydrocarbons by distillation
User Contributed Dictionary
English
Etymology
From or alcohol (modern French alcool) < sc=Arab.Pronunciation
- a UK /ˈælkəhɒl/, /"
Extensive Definition
In chemistry, an alcohol is any
organic
compound in which a hydroxyl group
(-OH) is bound to a carbon atom of an alkyl or substituted alkyl group.
The general formula for a simple acyclic
alcohol is CnH2n+1OH.
The word alcohol was
introduced into the English
language circa 1543 from the , "al-ġuḥl". In layman's terms, it usually refers
to ethanol, also known
as grain alcohol or (older) spirits of wine, or to any alcoholic
beverage. Ethanol is a colorless, volatile liquid with a mild
odor which can be obtained by the fermentation
of sugars. (Industrially, it is more commonly obtained by ethylene
hydration—the reaction of ethylene with water in the presence of phosphoric
acid.) Ethanol is the most widely used depressant in the world, and
has been for thousands of years. This sense underlies the term
alcoholism (addiction to
alcohol).
Other alcohols are usually
described with a clarifying adjective, as in isopropyl
alcohol (propan-2-ol) or wood alcohol (methyl alcohol, or
methanol). The suffix
-ol appears in the "official"
IUPAC chemical name of all alcohols.
There are three major subsets
of alcohols: primary (1°), secondary (2°) and tertiary (3°), based
upon the number of carbon atoms the C-OH group's carbon (shown in
red) is bonded to. Ethanol is a simple
'primary' alcohol. The simplest secondary alcohol is isopropyl
alcohol (propan-2-ol), and a simple tertiary alcohol is
tert-butyl
alcohol (2-methylpropan-2-ol).
The phenols with parent compound
phenol have a hydroxyl
group (attached to a benzene ring) just like
alcohols, but differ sufficiently in properties as to warrant a
separate treatment.
Carbohydrates
(sugars) and sugar
alcohols are an important class of compounds containing
multiple alcohol functional groups. For example, sucrose (common sugar) contains
eight hydroxyl groups per molecule and sorbitol has six. Most of the
attributes of these polyols, from
nomenclature, to occurrence, use and toxicity, are sufficiently
different from simple aliphatic alcohols as to require a separate
treatment.
Simple alcohols
The simplest and most commonly used alcohols are methanol and ethanol. Methanol was formerly obtained by the distillation of wood and called "wood alcohol." It is now a cheap commodity, the chemical product of carbon monoxide reacting with hydrogen under high pressure. Methanol is intoxicating but not directly poisonous. It is toxic by its breakdown (toxication) by the enzyme alcohol dehydrogenase in the liver by forming formic acid and formaldehyde which cause permanent blindness by destruction of the optic nerve.Apart from its familiar role
in alcoholic
beverages, ethanol is also used as a highly controlled
industrial solvent and raw material. To avoid the high taxes on
ethanol for consumption, additives are added to make it unpalatable
(such as denatonium
benzoate—"Bitrex") or poisonous (such as methanol).
Ethanol in this form is known generally as denatured
alcohol; when methanol is used, it may be referred to as
methylated
spirits ("Meths") or "surgical spirits".
Two other alcohols whose uses
are relatively widespread (though not so much as those of methanol
and ethanol) are propanol and butanol. Like ethanol, they can
be produced by fermentation processes. (However, the fermenting
agent is a bacterium, Clostridium
acetobutylicum, that feeds on cellulose, not sugars like the
Saccharomyces yeast that produces ethanol.)
Nomenclature
Systematic names
In the
IUPAC system, the name of the alkane chain loses the terminal
"e" and adds "ol", e.g. "methanol" and "ethanol". When necessary,
the position of the hydroxyl group is indicated by a number between
the alkane name and the "ol": propan-1-ol for
CH3CH2CH2OH, propan-2-ol
for CH3CH(OH)CH3. Sometimes, the position number is written before
the IUPAC name: 1-propanol and 2-propanol. If a higher priority
group is present (such as an aldehyde, ketone or carboxylic
acid), then it is necessary to use the prefix
"hydroxy",
Other alcohols are
substantially more poisonous than ethanol, partly because they take
much longer to be metabolized, and often their metabolism produces
even more toxic substances. Methanol, or wood alcohol, for
instance, is oxidized by alcohol
dehydrogenase enzymes
in the liver to the poisonous formaldehyde, which can
cause blindness or death.
An effective treatment to
prevent formaldehyde toxicity after methanol ingestion is to
administer ethanol. Alcohol dehydrogenase has a higher affinity for
ethanol, thus preventing methanol from binding and acting as a
substrate.
Any remaining methanol will then have time to be excreted through
the kidneys. Remaining formaldehyde will be converted to formic acid
and excreted.
See also
References
Bibliography
- The World in So Many Words
alcohol in Arabic: كحول
alcohol in Asturian: Alcohol
alcohol in Belarusian (Tarashkevitsa):
Сьпірт
alcohol in Bosnian: Alkohol
alcohol in Bulgarian: Алкохол
alcohol in Catalan: Alcohol
alcohol in Czech: Alkoholy
alcohol in Welsh: Alcohol
alcohol in Danish: Alkohol (stofklasse)
alcohol in German: Alkohole
alcohol in Estonian: Alkoholid
alcohol in Spanish: Alcohol
alcohol in Esperanto: Alkoholo
alcohol in Persian: الکل
alcohol in Faroese: Alkohol
alcohol in French: Alcool (chimie)
alcohol in Scottish Gaelic: Alcol
alcohol in Galician: Alcohol
alcohol in Korean: 알코올
alcohol in Croatian: Alkoholi
alcohol in Ido: Alkoholo
alcohol in Indonesian: Alkohol
alcohol in Icelandic: Alkóhól
alcohol in Italian: Alcoli
alcohol in Hebrew: כוהל
alcohol in Javanese: Alkohol
alcohol in Kurdish: Alkol
alcohol in Latin: Alcohol
alcohol in Latvian: Spirti
alcohol in Lithuanian: Alkoholis
alcohol in Hungarian: Alkoholok
alcohol in Macedonian: Алкохол
alcohol in Malayalam: ചാരായം (രസതന്ത്രം)
alcohol in Malay (macrolanguage): Alkohol
alcohol in Dutch: Alcohol (stofklasse)
alcohol in Japanese: アルコール
alcohol in Norwegian: Alkoholer
alcohol in Norwegian Nynorsk: Alkohol
alcohol in Occitan (post 1500): Alcòl
alcohol in Polish: Alkohole
alcohol in Portuguese: Álcool
alcohol in Romanian: Alcooli
alcohol in Russian: Спирты
alcohol in Sicilian: Alcool
alcohol in Simple English: Alcohol
alcohol in Slovak: Alkohol
(hydroxyderivát)
alcohol in Slovenian: Alkohol
alcohol in Serbian: Алкохол
alcohol in Sundanese: Alkohol
alcohol in Finnish: Alkoholi
alcohol in Swedish: Alkoholer
alcohol in Thai: แอลกอฮอล์
alcohol in Vietnamese: Rượu (hoá học)
alcohol in Cheyenne: Manestôtse
alcohol in Turkish: Alkol
alcohol in Ukrainian: Спирти
alcohol in Vlaams: Alcool
alcohol in Yiddish: אלקאהאל
alcohol in Chinese: 醇
Synonyms, Antonyms and Related Words
Amytal,
Amytal pill, Argyrol,
Chile saltpeter, Demerol, Dial, Dolophine, H, John Barleycorn, Luminal, Luminal pill, M, Mercurochrome, Merthiolate, Mickey Finn,
Nembutal, Nembutal
pill, Salol, Seconal, Seconal pill, Sulfonal, Trional, Tuinal, Tuinal pill, absolute
alcohol, acetate,
acetone, alcoholic
beverage, alcoholic drink, aldehyde, amine, ammonia, amobarbital sodium,
amyl alcohol, analgesic, anhydride, anodyne, antifreeze, aqua regia, aqua
vitae, ardent spirits, arsenate, arsenite, barb, barbital, barbiturate, barbiturate
pill, barbituric acid, basic anhydride, belladonna, benzine, benzoate, beverage, bicarbonate, bicarbonate of
soda, bichloride of mercury, bisulfate, black stuff,
blue, blue angel, blue
devil, blue heaven, blue velvet, booze, borate, borax, boric acid, brew, briquette, bromide, burnable, butane, calcium carbonate,
calcium hydroxide, calmative, calomel, camphor, carbide, carbohydrate, carbolic
acid, carbon, carbon
dioxide, carbon monoxide, carbon tet, carbon tetrachloride,
carbonate, charcoal, chloral hydrate,
chloramine, chlorate, chlorite, chloroform, chromate, citrate, coal, codeine, codeine cough syrup,
coke, combustible, copperas, cresol, cyanide, dehydrated alcohol,
depressant, depressor, dichromate, dioxide, disulfide, dolly, dope, downer, drink, ester, ethane, ethanol, ether, ethyl, ethyl alcohol, ethylene
glycol, fireball,
firewater, firing, flammable, flammable material,
fluoride, formaldehyde, fuel, fuel additive, fuel dope,
fulminate, gas, gas carbon, gasoline, gentian violet,
goofball, gramicidin, grog, halide, halogen, hard liquor, hard
stuff, heptane, heroin, hexachloraphene,
hexane, hooch, hop, horse, hydrate, hydride, hydrocarbon, hydrogen
peroxide, hydroxide,
hyoscyamine,
hypnotic, hypochlorite, inebriant, inflammable, inflammable
material, intoxicant,
intoxicating liquor, iodide, iodine, isooctane, isopropyl alcohol,
jet fuel, juice, junk, kerosene, ketone, knockout drops, lactate, laudanum, liquor, little brown jug,
lotus, meperidine, methadone, methane, methanol, methyl, methyl alcohol, monoxide, moonshine, morphia, morphine, narcotic, natural gas, niter, nitrate, nitride, nitrite, octane, oil, opiate, opium, oxalate, oxide, pacifier, pain killer, paraffin, paraldehyde, paregoric, peat, pen yan, pentane, pentobarbital, permanganate, peroxide, petrochemical, phenobarbital,
phenobarbital sodium, phenol, phenyl salicylate,
phosphate, phosphide, potable, potash, potassium nitrate,
potation, propane, propellant, punch bowl,
purple heart, quietener, rainbow, red, reserpine, resorcinol, rocket fuel,
rum, sal ammoniac, salt, saltpeter, sauce, scag, schnapps, scopolamine, secobarbital
sodium, sedative,
shit, silicate, silver vitellin,
sleep-inducer, sleeper,
sleeping draught, sleeping pill, smack, social lubricant, sodium
bicarbonate, sodium bromide, sodium chloride, sodium hypochlorite,
sodium thiopental, somnifacient, soother, soothing syrup,
soporific, spirits, strong drink, strong
waters, sulfate,
sulfide, sulfite, tar, tartrate, thalidomide, the Demon Rum,
the bottle, the cup, the flowing bowl, the luscious liquor, the
ruddy cup, thimerosal, thymol, tincture of iodine,
tipple, toxicant, tranquilizer, turf, turpentine, turps, water, water of life, white stuff,
yellow, yellow
jacket