We are going to talk about hydrogen bonding and acidity in the context of alcohols. Alcohols form intermolecular hydrogen bonds because they have hydroxyl (-OH) groups. This results from a strong dipole in which the hydroxyl group's proton acquires as substantial partial positive charge and the oxygen has a negative charge. The hydrogen can therefore interact electrostatically with a non-bonding pair of electrons on a nearby oxygen, resulting in a hydrogen bond.
Intermolecular hydrogen bonds between molecules can increase the boiling and melting points by holding the molecules together. Intermolecular means between individual molecules. Intramolecular hydrogen bonds are on the same molecule and decrease the amount of of intermoleculear hydrogen bonding interactions that can occur between molecules thereby decreasing the melting and boiling points.
The acidity of a compound is determined by the ease with which it can lose a proton (H+). Alcohols are relatively acidic functional groups for the same reason that they engage in hydrogen bonding: the large difference in electronegativity between oxygen and hydrogen. Phenols are more acidic than alcohols due to resonance stabilization.
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