tertiary alkanol

Question

2-methyl-propan-1-ol 係secondary alkanol 定tertiary alkanol?
如果係tertiary alkanol 點會又可以被oxidize?

Answer 1

Firstly, the name of the compound is 2-methylpropan-1-ol or methylpropan-1-ol (the number 2 may be omitted because of the absence of ambiguity), but not 2-methyl-propan-1-ol.

Secondly, 2-methylpropan-1-ol is a primary alcohol, but not a secondary alcohol or a tertiary alcohol.
Refer to the structure of 2-methylpropan-1-ol. Since the C atom attached to the -OH group is attached to 1 alkyl group only, it is classified as a primary alcohol.

圖片參考：http://hk.geocities.com/hoocch2ch2cooh/diagrams_2/2-methylpropan-1-ol.jpg


Thirdly, since it is a primary alcohol, 2-methylpropan-1-ol can be oxidized by common oxidizing agents to a carboxylic acid, 2-methylproanoic acid..

Fourthly, a tertiary alcohol cannot be oxidized by common oxidizing agents no matter what the medium (acidic, neutral or alkaline) is, but it can be oxidized in vigorous conditions. You had better have simply idea on it, but this is out of AL syllabus.