Alcohols, Phenols and Ethers is a Class 12 Chemistry chapter that carries about 3.4% of the Chemistry questions in NEET. Practise it with 42 questions covering 2 topics, each with an explanation.
Sets of 15 questions that adapt to your level, with an explanation for every answer.
Across the 13 previous year papers, Alcohols, Phenols and Ethers had 21 questions, about 1.6 a year. The most in one paper was 5, in NEET 2023.
| Paper | Questions from this chapter |
|---|---|
| NEET 2026 | 2 |
| NEET 2025 | 0 |
| NEET 2024 | 2 |
| NEET 2023 | 5 |
| NEET 2022 | 2 |
| NEET 2021 | 0 |
| NEET 2020 | 1 |
| NEET 2019 | 1 |
| NEET 2018 | 3 |
| NEET 2017 | 2 |
| NEET 2016 | 0 |
| Re-AIPMT 2015 | 1 |
| AIPMT 2014 | 2 |
8 questions from the practice bank, spread across the chapter's topics. The full set is in the app.
Phenol gives a violet colour with neutral ferric chloride, which is used as:
Answer: A. a test for phenols
Why: The colour comes from a complex of Fe³⁺ with phenoxide.
The order of the boiling points of the isomeric butanols is:
Answer: C. n-butanol > sec-butanol > tert-butanol
Why: Branching reduces the surface area.
On distilling with zinc dust, phenol gives:
Answer: A. benzene
Why: The –OH group is removed.
In the Williamson synthesis, a good yield of an ether is obtained when sodium alkoxide reacts with:
Answer: A. a primary alkyl halide
Why: The reaction is SN2; tertiary halides mainly undergo elimination to alkenes.
p-Cresol is a weaker acid than phenol because the methyl group:
Answer: B. donates electrons and destabilises the phenoxide ion
Why: Electron-donating groups decrease acidity.
The cleavage of tert-butyl methyl ether with HI gives mainly:
Answer: A. methanol and tert-butyl iodide, by an SN1 mechanism
Why: The tertiary carbocation is the more stable.
Treating sodium phenoxide with carbon dioxide at high temperature and pressure, then acidifying, gives:
Answer: D. salicylic acid
Why: This is the Kolbe reaction: electrophilic substitution of the phenoxide ring by CO₂.
Methanol is manufactured industrially by the catalytic hydrogenation of carbon monoxide:
Answer: B. CO + 2H₂ → CH₃OH, using ZnO–Cr₂O₃ at high pressure
Why: This is a key use of water gas.
Alcohols, Phenols and Ethers carries about 3.4% of the Chemistry questions in NEET. Across the 13 previous year papers on NeetVictory it appeared 21 times, about 1.6 questions a year.
Alcohols, Phenols and Ethers is a Class 12 Chemistry chapter in the NCERT syllabus.
NeetVictory has 42 practice questions on Alcohols, Phenols and Ethers, each with an explanation, in sets of 15 that adapt to your level. This page shows a free sample.
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