Alcohols and phenols

In organic chemistry, alcohols are a functional group where a hydroxy (-OH) group is bound to a saturated carbon. If the hydroxy group is bound to an aromatic ring, the functional group is called a phenol. See examples of an alcohol and phenol in Figure 1. Note that phenol is both the name of the functional group, and the simplest compound within this group.

Figure 1. Structures of ethanol and phenol.