Required practical: test for alcohols as part of organic functional-group analysis.

In the subtopic Alcohol production and reactions, this AQA A-Level Chemistry 7405 learning objective focuses on required practical: test for alcohols as part of organic functional-group analysis. It belongs to Alcohols, so revision should stay anchored to this exact subtopic rather than drifting into a generic GCSE-level chemistry summary. Approved keywords to use include alcohol. Alcohol test. means a procedure used to identify the presence of alcohols in a sample, often involving the use of specific reagents that react with the alcohol functional group Avoid the mistake of students often confuse the test for alcohols with the test for aldehydes, leading to incorrect conclusions about the presence of functional groups; instead, to correctly test for alcohols, use the appropriate reagent, such as sodium dichromate in dilute sulfuric acid, which will oxidize primary and secondary alcohols, changing color from orange to green. Ensure to write the balanced equation for the reaction: C2H5OH + [O] → CH3COOH + H2O. This shows the oxidation of ethanol to acetic acid For exam answers, when testing for alcohols, use the reaction with acidified potassium dichromate. The solution will change from orange to green if a primary or secondary alcohol is present