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Answer: The acidic nature of alcohol and phenol varies because of the reactivity of these substances towards the ionization reaction involving the O – H bond.
Explanation: Ionization of alcohols can be represented as
H2O + R – OH (alcohol) ⇌ H3O+ + R – O– (alkoxide)
The electron releasing inductive effect shown by the alkyl destabilizes alcohol’s conjugate base (alkoxide ion). So, alcohol never ionizes in water.
On the other hand, the phenoxide ion formed after the ionization of phenol in water is a conjugate base and is stabilized through delocalization of the produced negative charge. Thus phenol portrays acidic nature by completing ionization.
