Reference pKa Tables Alcohols and Water
Alcohols and Water
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In this section
| Compound | pKa | Structural Note |
|---|---|---|
| Water | 15.7 | Reference solvent |
| Ethanol | 16 | Typical primary/secondary alcohol |
| tert-Butanol | 18 | Bulkier alkoxide is less well solvated/stabilized |
Alcohols and water are only weakly acidic — their conjugate bases (alkoxide, hydroxide) carry a full negative charge with no resonance delocalization. Alkoxide is nonetheless a strong enough base to be useful synthetically (e.g., in E2 eliminations, Chapter 8), precisely because it is not resonance-stabilized.