Arrange water, ethanol and phenol in increasing order of acidity and give reason for your answer.
The phenoxide ion obtained after the removal of a proton is resonance stabilised as follows
Whereas, the ethoxide ion obtained after the removal of a proton is not stabilised destabilised due to + I effect of — group. Therefore, phenol is a stronger acid than ethanol. + I effect of group increase the electron density on O—H bond in
ethanol. As the electron density on the O—H bond of ethanol is more than that of water. So, ethanol is a weaker acid than water. Thus, the increasing order of acidity is
ethanol < water < phenol
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