17.3 Properties of Alcohols phenols: Acidity and Basicity
Like water, alcohols and phenols are both weakly basic and weakly acidic. As weak bases, they are reversibly protonated by strong acids to yield oxonium ions, ROH2+:
As weak acids, alcohols and phenols dissociate to a slight extent in dilute aqueous solution by donating a proton to water, generating H3O+ and an alkoxide ion, RO-, or a phenoxide ion, ArO-: