Benzoin and methanol both have an alcohol group, but benzoin has a ketone group and phenyl groups within it also. The interesting part about benzoin is that it is a conjugated pi system, meaning that electrons from the phenyl groups can shift around the double bonds throughout the whole molecule without effecting anything; this also impacts the ketone group. This is also known as resonance, you can see an example here http://alevelchem.com/drop/peptide_angles.gif Because of this effect, the whole rest of the benzoin moiety (besides the alcohol group) can be considered one giant add-on (Let\'s call it R) If methanol looks like this... H3C-OH Then our benzoin because of its delocalized resonant electrons will, in comparison, just look like... R-OH When placed side by side this is how both molecules will act with each other. Therefore the polarities of both molecules are similar because electronically both molecules function the same way (Methanol with a CH3, and Benzoin with a conjugated R group). Solution Benzoin and methanol both have an alcohol group, but benzoin has a ketone group and phenyl groups within it also. The interesting part about benzoin is that it is a conjugated pi system, meaning that electrons from the phenyl groups can shift around the double bonds throughout the whole molecule without effecting anything; this also impacts the ketone group. This is also known as resonance, you can see an example here http://alevelchem.com/drop/peptide_angles.gif Because of this effect, the whole rest of the benzoin moiety (besides the alcohol group) can be considered one giant add-on (Let\'s call it R) If methanol looks like this... H3C-OH Then our benzoin because of its delocalized resonant electrons will, in comparison, just look like... R-OH When placed side by side this is how both molecules will act with each other. Therefore the polarities of both molecules are similar because electronically both molecules function the same way (Methanol with a CH3, and Benzoin with a conjugated R group)..

1. Benzoin and methanol both have an alcohol group, but benzoin has a ketone group
and phenyl groups within it also. The interesting part about benzoin is that it is a conjugated pi
system, meaning that electrons from the phenyl groups can shift around the double bonds
throughout the whole molecule without effecting anything; this also impacts the ketone group.
This is also known as resonance, you can see an example here
http://alevelchem.com/drop/peptide_angles.gif Because of this effect, the whole rest of the
benzoin moiety (besides the alcohol group) can be considered one giant add-on (Let's call it R)
If methanol looks like this... H3C-OH Then our benzoin because of its delocalized resonant
electrons will, in comparison, just look like... R-OH When placed side by side this is how both
molecules will act with each other. Therefore the polarities of both molecules are similar because
electronically both molecules function the same way (Methanol with a CH3, and Benzoin with a
conjugated R group).
Solution
Benzoin and methanol both have an alcohol group, but benzoin has a ketone group
and phenyl groups within it also. The interesting part about benzoin is that it is a conjugated pi
system, meaning that electrons from the phenyl groups can shift around the double bonds
throughout the whole molecule without effecting anything; this also impacts the ketone group.
This is also known as resonance, you can see an example here
http://alevelchem.com/drop/peptide_angles.gif Because of this effect, the whole rest of the
benzoin moiety (besides the alcohol group) can be considered one giant add-on (Let's call it R)
If methanol looks like this... H3C-OH Then our benzoin because of its delocalized resonant
electrons will, in comparison, just look like... R-OH When placed side by side this is how both
molecules will act with each other. Therefore the polarities of both molecules are similar because
electronically both molecules function the same way (Methanol with a CH3, and Benzoin with a
conjugated R group).