Alcohols have higher boiling point than their corresponding parent alkanes due to:

Options

A. Intramolecular hydrogen bonding
B. Intramolecular hydrogen bonding
C. van der Waals forces
D. Covalent bonding

Answer

To understand why alcohols have higher boiling points than their corresponding parent alkanes, we can break down the reasoning into a step-by-step explanation:

### Step 1: Identify the Compounds
- **Alcohols** are organic compounds that contain a hydroxyl group (-OH) attached to a carbon atom.
- **Alkanes** are saturated hydrocarbons consisting only of carbon (C) and hydrogen (H) atoms, with single bonds between them.

### Step 2: Understand Boiling Points
- The boiling point of a substance is influenced by the strength of the intermolecular forces present between its molecules.
- Stronger intermolecular forces result in higher boiling points.

### Step 3: Examine Intermolecular Forces in Alkanes
- In alkanes, the primary intermolecular forces are **Van der Waals forces** (also known as London dispersion forces). These forces are relatively weak compared to other types of intermolecular forces.

### Step 4: Examine Intermolecular Forces in Alcohols
- Alcohols, on the other hand, can form **hydrogen bonds** due to the presence of the hydroxyl (-OH) group.
- Hydrogen bonding is a strong type of dipole-dipole interaction that occurs when hydrogen is bonded to highly electronegative atoms (like oxygen in alcohols).

### Step 5: Compare the Two
- Since alcohols can engage in hydrogen bonding, they have much stronger intermolecular forces compared to the Van der Waals forces present in alkanes.
- This results in alcohols having higher boiling points than their corresponding alkanes.

### Conclusion
- Therefore, the higher boiling point of alcohols compared to their corresponding parent alkanes is due to the presence of hydrogen bonding in alcohols, which creates stronger intermolecular forces than the Van der Waals forces in alkanes.

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