In this lesson, the oxidation of alcohols is discussed in depth. The various reagents used for oxidation of primary and secondary alcohols are detailed, and their mechanism of action is provided.
The process of oxidation in a chemical reaction is observed in any of the three forms:

Overview
Ethers can be prepared from organic compounds by various methods. Some of them are discussed below,
Preparation of Ethers by Alcohol Dehydration
In this method, in the presence of protic acids, alcohol dehydrates to produce alkenes and ethers under different conditions. For example, in the presence of sulphuric acid, dehydration of ethanol at 413 K yields ethoxyethane, whereas it yields ethene at 443 K.

This lesson delves into the concept of protection and deprotection of a functional group fundamental to synthetic organic chemistry. These phenomena are explained in the context of aliphatic and aromatic alcohols.
Protection
It defines a protecting group as the masking agent to make the more reactive species inert to a given set of conditions. This concept is depicted via the illustration of liquid flow through different outlets in an assembly of pipes. The analogy helps to understand the role...

Overview
Alcohols can be synthesized from alkyl halides via nucleophilic substitution reactions. The highly polar carbon-halogen bond in the substrate makes halide a good leaving group.  The hydroxide ion or water can act as a nucleophile to take the place of halide and form an alcohol. The substitution reactions occur via two different reaction pathways, SN1 or SN2,  depending on the nature of carbon attached to the halide.
Primary alcohols are synthesized from primary alkyl halides, and the...

Esters are reduced to primary alcohols when treated with a strong reducing agent like lithium aluminum hydride. The reaction requires two equivalents of the reducing agent and proceeds via an aldehyde intermediate.
Lithium aluminum hydride is a source of hydride ions and functions as a nucleophile. The mechanism proceeds in three steps. Firstly, the nucleophilic hydride ion attacks the carbonyl carbon of the ester to form a tetrahedral intermediate. Subsequently, the carbonyl group re-forms,...

The reaction of an ester with a Grignard reagent, followed by hydrolysis of the magnesium alkoxide salt in aqueous acid, yields a tertiary alcohol. In the case of formate esters, secondary alcohols are formed.
The reaction requires two equivalents of the Grignard reagent and introduces two identical alkyl groups, derived from the Grignard reagent, bonded to the hydroxyl-bearing carbon of the alcohol.
The reaction follows the typical nucleophilic acyl substitution mechanism. The Grignard...