Alcohols do not undergo elimination reactions.

Solution

Chemistry ma’am · 4 steps

Heat ethanol with concentrated sulphuric acid and you get ethene: that is an elimination.

1. What elimination means. In an elimination, a small molecule is removed from two neighbouring carbon atoms and a C=C double bond forms. For alcohols, the small molecule is water, so this reaction is called dehydration.

   CH₃CH₂OH →(conc. H₂SO₄, 443 K) CH₂=CH₂ + H₂O

2. How it happens. The acid protonates the -OH group, which then leaves as water. A carbocation forms, and it loses an H⁺ from the next carbon to give the alkene.
3. Order of ease. Tertiary alcohols dehydrate most easily, because they form the most stable carbocation. The order is 3° > 2° > 1°. When more than one alkene can form, Saytzeff's rule picks the more substituted one as the major product.
4. So. Alcohols do undergo elimination (dehydration to alkenes), so the statement is false.

The idea to keep. Alcohol plus a hot acid such as conc. H₂SO₄ or H₃PO₄ means elimination of water to give an alkene. Remember the ease of dehydration: 3° > 2° > 1°.

Answer from the NTA final answer key. Solution by PrepWiser.