1. Module 6

1.18. Page 5

Module 6 Lesson 3

Module 6—Petrochemicals

Lesson Summary

 

In Lesson 3 you considered the following questions:

  • What are alcohols?
  • Are alcohols being produced and used in a responsible way?

Alcohols are a group of organic compounds containing a hydroxyl group. Alcohols can be produced by chemical synthesis or, as is the case in ethanol production, by plant fermentation. Alcohols are a very useful group of organic compounds due to their chemical and physical properties. For example, alcohols are often used as solvents in chemical processes, in antifreezes, and as a reactant in elimination and other reactions with organic compounds.

 

Your work in this lesson, and later in this module, will show you that alcohols are a very important class of organic compounds, not only because of their ease of combustion and high energy content, but because of their use in synthetic reactions. In the next lesson you will learn about esterification reactions, another type of organic reaction in which an alcohol is a reactant.

 

Many countries are looking into ethanol as a fuel additive or even as a fuel alternative, because ethanol is a renewable resource. The use of ethanol as a biofuel has sparked a great deal of interest and concern. In Lesson 3 you considered many of the perspectives associated with this issue.  

 

Lesson Glossary

 

alcohol: an organic compound containing one or more hydroxyl groups as the functional group