Phenol

Phenol is an aromatic organic compound, C₆H₅OH, with a hydroxyl group bonded directly to a benzene ring. It is both a weak acid and a starting material for many industrial chemicals.

Phenoxide: The anion formed when phenol loses a proton, with its negative charge delocalized over oxygen and the aromatic ring. Resonance stabilizes this conjugate base, accounting for phenol’s acidity.
Bisphenol A: An organic compound made from phenol and acetone, used to produce polycarbonate plastics and epoxy resins. Phenol is a principal feedstock in the industrial synthesis of this compound.
Friedlieb Ferdinand Runge: A German chemist known for isolating several substances from coal tar in the 1830s. Runge isolated phenol from coal tar and named it carbolic acid.
Joseph Lister: A British surgeon who pioneered antiseptic surgery in the nineteenth century. Lister used carbolic acid to reduce infections during surgical procedures.
Phenol–formaldehyde resin: A thermosetting polymer made by reacting phenol with formaldehyde. Phenol’s activated aromatic ring forms the cross-linked structures in these resins.
Caprolactam: A cyclic amide used as the monomer for nylon 6. Phenol can be converted to cyclohexanone, a feedstock for caprolactam production.
Coal tar: A complex liquid mixture produced during the high-temperature processing of coal. Coal tar was an early commercial source of phenol.
Antiseptic surgery: Surgical practice that uses measures to prevent infection by killing or excluding microorganisms. Phenol-based antisepsis helped establish infection control in operating rooms.
Electrophilic aromatic substitution: A reaction in which an electrophile replaces a hydrogen atom on an aromatic ring. Phenol’s hydroxyl group activates the ring and directs substitution mainly to ortho and para positions.
Salicylic acid: An aromatic carboxylic acid used to make aspirin and other products. Phenol is a starting material in the Kolbe–Schmitt synthesis of salicylic acid.

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