Talk:Alcohol

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Inaccurate etymology

The Quran in verse 37:47 uses the word الغول = ALGhWL = al-ghawl — properly meaning "spirit" ("spiritual being") or "demon" — with the sense "the thing that gives the wine its headiness". The word al-ghawl also originated the English word "ghoul", and the name of the star Algol. This derivation would, of course, be consistent with the use of "spirit" or "spirit of wine" as synonymous of "alcohol" in most Western languages. (Incidentally, the etymology "alcohol" = "the devil" was used in the 1930s by the U.S. Temperance Movement for propaganda purposes.) Ryandward (talk) 16:39, 23 September 2010 (UTC)

Inaccurate Production

"For instance the conversion of invertase to glucose and fructose" -- Invertase is not converted to glucose and fructose; it is an enzyme that catalyzes the hydrolysis (breakdown) of sucrose (table sugar) to glucose and fructose. "or the conversion of glucose to zymase and ethanol" -- Similarly, glucose is not converted to zymase and alcohol; Zymase is an enzyme complex that catalyzes the fermentation of glucose into ethanol and carbon dioxide —Preceding unsigned comment added by Rwr104 (talk • contribs) 07:56, 6 October 2010 (UTC)

Inaccurate reference

[1] is referenced in the section "Nucleophilic substitution", in conjunction with the mentioning of thionyl chloride, but the reference is solely concerned with the toxicity of methanol. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 130.238.197.249 (talk) 13:22, 24 March 2010 (UTC)

Ethanol "is heavily controlled"

The article claimed that industrial-use ethanol "is heavily controlled". I know that this is true in the US, and perhaps in other countries. However in Brazil hydrated ethanol (96%) is available in any supermarket and widely used for house cleaning in spite of its (relatively moderate) fire hazards. It is also universally used to start charcoal fires for barbecues, as it does not leave a smell like kerosene does. It may be denatured but I doubt it. Anhydrous ethanol is not so common, but can be found in supermarkets now and then. (As a teenager I had a "chemistry lab" at home, and, ethanol was the most heavily used item after water. methinks the paranoia against ethanol in the US is a terrible act of violence against the kids' education, worse than Texas's ban on labware. Sigh...) --Jorge Stolfi (talk) 06:03, 12 January 2010 (UTC)

Alcohol only for alkyls?

The article claimed that an alcohol is one OH group attached to an alkyl group. But could't it be an aryl or other groups? Aren't the phenols and ethenol alcohols too? --Jorge Stolfi (talk) 06:07, 12 January 2010 (UTC)

See IUPAC Gold Book definition. Phenols are traditionally not classed as alcohols; it's probably a rather arbitrary distinction (we don't distinguish ethers in the same way, for example), and I suspect it comes from the fact that simple phenols dissolve & deprotonate in NaOH but alcohols don't. Walkerma (talk) 21:13, 23 January 2010 (UTC)

Octyldodecanol

Octyldodecanol is redirected here, but the article doesn't even mention it. A structural formula, at the very least, would be helpful. --Siden (talk) 13:31, 26 February 2010 (UTC)

Origin of Alcohol not clearly mentioned

PLease refer to the following text , source the Qatar Foundation site "Arab Science- A journey of innovation"

"Although Al Kindi was drawn to multiple fields ranging from music to metaphysics, certain aspects of chemistry especially attracted him. Together with Jabir, he is credited with the discovery of ethanol and the isolation of alcohol, which as a disinfectant would become a mainstay of Arab medicine. But because he was especially interested in scents, he is also considered to be the father of the modern perfume industry. He created recipes for perfumes, pharmaceuticals, and cosmetics. His Kitab Kimiya' al-'Itr (Book of the Chemistry of Perfume) is considered to be the first of its kind." —Preceding unsigned comment added by Imedbou (talk • contribs) 15:54, 18 June 2010 (UTC) Imedbou (talk) 16:09, 18 June 2010 (UTC)

Alcohols table - misprint

Inositol is named also as "gexol", not "hexol". —Preceding unsigned comment added by Esmu Igors (talk • contribs) 17:59, 25 November 2010 (UTC)

Actually, there is a misprint in your misprint notice. Inositol is named also as "geksol" not "hexol" It warms my heart to see 2000+ hits in google for this non-word that appears to be the result of a speech-to-text processing, but this should be fixed! — Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.191.209.52 (talk) 06:05, 19 June 2011 (UTC)

Inaccurate definition

In chemistry, an alcohol is any organic compound in which a hydroxyl functional group (-OH) is bound to a carbon atom, usually connected to other carbon or hydrogen atoms.
CH₃COOH would fall under the alcohols category then. Yet it doesn't. 83.237.96.233 (talk) 08:40, 11 December 2010 (UTC)

You have a point. Alcohols contain OH that is bonded to C, but not a C that is a C=O. SBHarris 03:33, 2 November 2011 (UTC)

• the definition has been modified : carbon must be saturated. By the way, back in 2009 the definition was "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." We must be aware of article degradation V8rik (talk) 18:13, 2 November 2011 (UTC)

What about vinyl alcohol? No alkyl there. SBHarris 18:53, 2 November 2011 (UTC)

Maybe not "saturated" but "having no other bonds with heteroatoms, except for another hydroxyl groups", as this definition could exclude from falling into the term compounds like imidic acids, for example. That sentence about another hydroxyls is intended to keep inside the alcohol class heminal diols (e. g., ninhydrin). --Esmu Igors (talk) 21:19, 1 January 2012 (UTC)

Toxicity of alcohol

The section of toxicity of alcohol doesn't include much information on the toxicity of ethanol, likely the most common alcohol to be consumed. Although drunkenness is mentioned, perhaps a link to the page on Ethanol Metabolism, or the subsection of the page on Ethanol, Drug Effects. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 96.50.74.105 (talk) 03:30, 12 January 2011 (UTC)

Incorrect naming of alcohol in list Alcohols#Common_Names

Under the IUPAC name, the name of propan-2-ol is written as isopropyl alcohol and common name as rubbing alcohol. Both rubbing alcohol and isopropyl alcohol and rubbing alcohols are common names.

Also the columns of IUPAC and common names of butanol (butyl alcohol) is incorrectly interchanged.

Also please note this fro article rubbing alcohol : The term "rubbing alcohol" has become a general non-specific term for either isopropyl alcohol (isopropanol) or ethyl alcohol (ethanol) rubbing-alcohol products. Vanischenu^TM 09:12, 27 December 2011 (UTC)

Proposal To Merge With Alcohol and cortisol

What do people think about including the information in the article Alcohol and cortisol in this article and then deleting it Alcohol and cortisol? Smd75jr (talk) 01:51, 31 January 2012 (UTC)

No, very bad idea. Alcohol and cortisol is long enough to stand alone, and per WP:SS should be a main article for an adrenal or cortisol effects subsection of Long term effects of alcohol which in turn is a subarticle for alcoholism which in turn is a subarticle for ethanol which is in turn a subarticle for alcohol. Don't put this stuff in HERE, which is a far too general article for it. This article is about the broad class of chemicals. SBHarris 21:53, 31 January 2012 (UTC)

I agree completely; I'm surprised it's even being considered. Alcohol and cortisol is a highly specialized subtopic that has no place in a general article on alcohol -- nor even in a general article on ethanol. Gould363 (talk) 03:31, 24 February 2012 (UTC)

I also would oppose merging the two articles. The subjects discussed in this topic are too general; as previous commenters mention the cortisol-alcohol subject is too specialized. fvandrog (talk) —Preceding undated comment added 14:25, 2 March 2012 (UTC).

Edit request on 12 February 2012

Alcohols have applications in industry and science as reagents or solvents. Because of its low toxicity and ability to dissolve non-polar substances, ethanol can be used as a solvent in medical drugs, perfumes, and vegetable essences such as vanilla. In organic synthesis, alcohols serve as versatile intermediates. 74.76.14.138 (talk) 14:03, 12 February 2012 (UTC)

This is not worded well and is misleading. Ethanol is toxic, there is nothing low about it. The fact it is used in hand sanitizer is a testament to how effective it is as a killer of life. This should be reworded to something resembling "Because of it's relatively low toxicity compared with other alcohols and it's ability to dissolve non-polar substances, ethanol....."

Done Thanks, Celestra (talk) 17:16, 12 February 2012 (UTC)