Phenol does not give a characteristic colour with FeCl₃ solution.

Solution

Chemistry ma’am · 3 steps

Phenol is exactly the compound the neutral FeCl₃ test is famous for: it turns the solution violet.

1. What the test detects. Neutral FeCl₃ solution reacts with an -OH group attached directly to a C=C carbon. Phenols and enols have such a group. In phenol it sits on a benzene ring carbon.
2. The coloured complex. The phenoxide ion bonds to Fe³⁺ and forms a complex with a deep violet colour.

   6C₆H₅OH + FeCl₃ → [Fe(OC₆H₅)₆]³⁻ + 3H⁺ + 3HCl

3. So. Phenol does give a characteristic colour (violet) with neutral FeCl₃. The statement is false.

The idea to keep. Neutral FeCl₃ tests for an -OH on a C=C carbon. Phenols and enols give a coloured complex, but ordinary alcohols give no colour.

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