levo

What's in a Medicine?

Primary, secondary and tertiary alcohols

  • 3 things to know
  • Components 01, 02 and 03

Overview

Recall questions on what defines each class, how many hydrogens sit on the hydroxyl carbon, and classifying a named alcohol.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Your recallNot started
Key term

What defines a primary, a secondary and a tertiary alcohol?

Key term

How many hydrogens are on the carbon bearing the OH group in a secondary alcohol, and how are butan-1-ol and butan-2-ol classified?

Key term

How is 2-methylpropan-2-ol classified, why is 2-methylpropan-1-ol still primary, and why is methanol a special case?

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    On what basis are alcohols classified as primary, secondary or tertiary?

    Model answer

    On the number of carbon atoms bonded directly to the carbon atom that carries the –OH group.

  2. 2

    Define a primary alcohol.

    Model answer

    A primary alcohol has the –OH group on a carbon atom that is bonded to at most one other carbon atom.

  3. 3

    Define a secondary alcohol.

    Model answer

    A secondary alcohol has the –OH group on a carbon atom bonded to two other carbon atoms.

  4. 4

    Define a tertiary alcohol.

    Model answer

    A tertiary alcohol has the –OH group on a carbon atom bonded to three other carbon atoms.

  5. 5

    How many hydrogen atoms are attached to the carbon bearing the –OH group in a secondary alcohol?

    Model answer

    One hydrogen atom is attached to that carbon.

  6. 6

    How many hydrogen atoms are attached to the –OH carbon of a tertiary alcohol?

    Model answer

    None, because all three remaining bonds go to carbon atoms.

Other ways to work this

The same content, four other ways.

What is inside Levo

Six ways to work the same material.

1Closed book
2Open book
3Closed book

The 3-step method, run for you

Answer cold, learn it, then prove it stuck. Levo tracks the jump between your first attempt and your last.

Development of Practical Skills in Chemistry
Elements of Life
Developing Fuels
Elements From the Sea

Cram a whole paper in one sitting

Sort every topic into what you know and what you do not, then drill only the weak ones.

A acid is formed.
carboxylicnitricfatty

Blank Blitz makes facts automatic

Rapid timed gap-fills on the terms and numbers you need to recall without thinking.

A3 ⁴₂He → ¹²₆C.
B¹²₆C + ⁴₂He → ¹⁶₈O.
C¹⁶₈O + ⁴₂He → ²⁰₁₀Ne.

Build It gets the exam shape right

Assemble a full-mark answer from its marking points, in the order an examiner wants them.

Nitrogen is +2 in NO and +4 in NO₂.
TrueFalse

Test It catches misconceptions

Spot the fault in a statement. The traps are the mistakes students actually make.

721941163128510

Brain Breaks between sessions

Short focus games to reset attention, so the next set lands better than the last.

Every question in What's in a Medicine?, on a schedule.

Attempt a question from memory, write the correct version, then attempt it again. Levo records the jump between your first attempt and your last, and brings each question back on the day you are due to forget it.

Or £46 a year, about £3.83 a month. Cancel anytime.