Why is #"methyl alcohol"# more reactive than #"ethyl alcohol"#?

1 Answer
Sep 23, 2017

Consider the shrubbery around the alcoholic function.....

Explanation:

And here #"shrubbery"# simply means the steric demand of a methyl alcohol. A functional group bound to a methyl residue is MUCH less sterically hindered than one bound to an ethyl or larger hydrocarbyl group. And this reduced steric demand magnifies the reactivity of the alcohol in associative reactions.

It is a fact that methyl alcohol is insoluble in hexane, whereas ethyl alcohol is quite soluble in this solvent. Why should this be so?