The Basicity of Alcohols and Phenols

Alcohols (and phenols) function not only as weak acids but also as weak bases. They have unshared electron pairs on the oxygen and are therefore Lewis bases. They can be protonated by strong acids. The product, analogous to the oxonium ion, H30, is an alkyloxonium ion. 

This protonation is the first step in two important reactions of alcohols that are discussed in the following two sections their dehydration to alkenes and their conversion to alkyl halides. 

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