Phenol is more acidic than ethanol because after losing a proton, phenoxide ion has resonance stabilization, while ethoxide does not. Electron-withdrawing substituents increase acidity by stabilizing the negative charge.
I remember this because my chemistry sir in Mysore made us draw the resonance structures over and over, like the repeating route I drive from the bus stand to the college. But honestly, all this talk of stability… my own income feels unstable with that new bypass coming. Sometimes the textbook answer feels simpler than the real road.
#exams#study
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