Why phenol is acidic in nature whereas hexanol is neutral to word solution of Naoh
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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.
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Removal of acidic hydrogen from phenol introduces negative charge on phenoxide ion which is stabilised by resonance. This structure is even more stable than phenol as in it's canonical structure the negative charge is on the more electronegative element (oxygen) while in phenol it is on the lesser electronegative element (carbon). Thus phenols have a tendency to loose their acidic hydrogen and react with NaOH. This is not possible in hexanol as by removing it's acidic hydrogen, the corresponding structure is not stabilised by resonance. Hence phenol is a better acid than hexanol.
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