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phenol is more acidic than ethanol. give reason? pls give a brief answer.

Phenol is more acidic than alcohol due to the resonance stabilised phenoxide ion.

resonance structure of phenoxide

On the other hand, in the case of ethanol neither ethanol nor ethoxide ion is stabilized by resonance. Hence, they behave as weaker acids than phenols.

I hope, this answer helps you.

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 phenol is more acidic because of the benzene ring present in the molecule,when you lose the H form the OH group it is possible to delocalise the charge around the aromatic system due to the pi electron cloud,straight chain alcohols cannot do this so it is less favourable to deprotonate them hance it is easier to deprotonate a phenol,hence we say it is more acidic

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