ALCOHOLS

By the Arrhenius definition of an acid and base, alcohol is neither acidic nor basic
when dissolved in water, as it neither produces H+ nor OH- in solution.

By the Bronsted-Lowry definition, in other solvents such as DMSO or as a pure

solution, ethanol can react with strong bases such as BuLi as a proton donor.
Similarly, it can also react in strongly acidic solutions such as concentrated H2SO4
to give the conjugate acid ROH2+. ROH2+ is usually an intermediatethe H2O
will quickly leave and become substituted by a nucleophile X- to give RX in a
nucleophilic substitution, or the whole alcohol may dehydrate to give an alkene in
an E1 elimination reaction. I shant elaborate further on these 2 reactions as they
do not directly answer this question.

In summary, I would say that alcohol is neither acidic nor basic under normal
conditions i.e. in water. But in theory, it can actually behave as both depending on
your reaction conditions.

Alcohol can act as both an acid and a base, similar to water. Alcohols are slightly
weaker acids than water but still react with strong bases such as sodium hydride
and metals such as sodium. However, the oxygen atom makes alcohol a weaker
base in the presence of strong acid-like sulfuric acid.

CARBOXYLIC ACID

Why are carboxylic acids acidic?

Using the definition of an acid as a "substance which donates protons (hydrogen

ions) to other things", the carboxylic acids are acidic because of the hydrogen in
the -COOH group.

In solution in water, a hydrogen ion is transferred from the -COOH group to a

water molecule. For example, with ethanoic acid, you get an ethanoate ion formed
together with a hydroxonium ion, H3O+.

AMINES

Amines are derivatives of ammonia in which one or more of the hydrogens has
been replaced by an alkyl or aryl group. The nomenclature of amines is
complicated by the fact that several different nomenclature systems exist, and
there is no clear preference for one over the others. Furthermore, the terms
primary (1), secondary (2) & tertiary (3) are used to classify amines in a
completely different manner than they were used for alcohols or alkyl halides.
When applied to amines these terms refer to the number of alkyl (or
aryl) substituents bonded to the nitrogen atom, whereas in other cases they
refer to the nature of an alkyl group.
The basic properties of amines

A base is a substance which combines with hydrogen ions. This is the Bronsted-
Lowry theory.

an electron pair donor. This is the Lewis theory.

AMIDES
_amides are neutral.

Amide

In chemistry, an amide is one of two kinds of compounds:

the organic functional group characterized by a carbonyl group (C=O)

linked to a nitrogen atom (N), or a compound that contains this functional
group (pictured to the right); or

a particular kind of nitrogen anion.

Amides are the most stable of all the carbonyl functional groups.

In amides one of the three bonds is a carbonyl carbon. Thus amides may be
viewed as "acylated amines" or as
derivatives of carboxylic acids in which the -OH of the acid has been replaced by
-NR2where R=H, alkyl, aryl, etc.):

ALDEHYDES
Aldehydes are neutral in pH and undergo both oxidation and reduction reactions.
They are easily
oxidized to acids and reduced to alcohols.