Ethanol, a clear colorless alcohol, has been consumed by humans for millennia, but its effects on the body are far from benign. At lower doses, it induces decreased inhibitions and loquaciousness, leading to its social appeal. However, it can cause severe consequences at higher doses, such as coma and respiratory depression, due to its zero-order elimination kinetics. Chronic ethanol abuse wreaks havoc on multiple organ systems, particularly the CNS and the liver. Abrupt cessation of ethanol...

Similar to water, alcohols can add to the carbonyl carbon of the aldehydes and ketones. The addition of one molecule of alcohol to the carbonyl compound forms the hemiacetal or half acetal. As depicted below, in a hemiacetal, the carbon is directly linked to an OH and OR group.

DefinitionHepatic encephalopathy is a reversible neurologic syndrome that results from advanced liver dysfunction or portosystemic shunting. It leads to disturbances in cognition, behavior, and motor function due to the brain’s exposure to gut-derived toxins that the liver fails to detoxify.EtiologyThis condition develops either in the setting of acute fulminant hepatitis or progressively during chronic liver disease, such as cirrhosis and portal hypertension. Portosystemic shunting—including...

Alcoholysis is a nucleophilic acyl substitution reaction in which an alcohol functions as a nucleophile. Acid halides react with alcohol to produce esters. The mechanism proceeds in three steps:

In a dehydration reaction, a hydroxyl group in an alcohol is eliminated along with the hydrogen from an adjacent carbon. Here, the products are an alkene and a molecule of water. Dehydration of alcohols is generally achieved by heating in the presence of an acid catalyst. While the dehydration of primary alcohols requires high temperatures and acid concentrations, secondary and tertiary alcohols can lose a water molecule under relatively mild conditions.