Why is phenol more acidic than alcohol?

1 Answer
Apr 29, 2018

Because the phenoxide ion is resonance-stabilized....

Explanation:

And the negative charge DOES not remain localized on the oxygen centre as it does on say ethanol, but is delocalized on the phenoxide ring. And as chemists, as physical scientists we should interrogate the data:

#pK_a#, #"ethyl alcohol"=14#

#pK_a#, #"phenol"=10#