what is Benzyl Alcohol ?

Benzyl alcohol, also called phenylmethanol or phenylcarbinol, is a clear, colorless liquid with a mild pleasant aromatic odor; melting at 15 C and Boiling at 205 C. It is a primary alcohol with arene group. It is soluble in water and readily soluble in alcohol and ether.

Benzyl alcohol is prepared by the hydrolysis of benzyl chloride in the presence of soda ash. Benzyl alcohol has properties of strong polarity and limited water solubility. It features also good solvency, low toxicity and low vapor pressure. It is used as a general solvent for inks, paints, lacquers, epoxy resin coatings, and as a degreasing agent in cleaning as well as for chemical reaction process. It reacts with acids (acetic, benzoic, and sebacic acids, and etc) to form numerous esters, salts and other compounds, thus is used widely as a valued intermediate in industrial field as well as in making soap, perfume, and flavors. This compound is used as a dyeing assistant for filament nylons. Its applications include many pharmaceutical preparations and bacteriostatic compounds. It was used for antipruritic activity to relieve itching.

Benzyl alcohol has nearly the same refraction index of quartz and wool fibre. If a clear quartz object is immersed in benzyl alcohol, it becomes almost invisible. This has been used as a method to non-destructively recognize if an object is made of true quartz or not (see crystal skull). Similarly, white wool immersed in benzyl alcohol also becomes almost invisible clearly revealing contaminants such as dark and medullated fibres and vegetable matter.

Benzyl alcohol is an organic compound with the formula C6H5CH2OH. The benzyl group is often abbreviated "Bn", thus benzyl alcohol is denoted as BnOH. Benzyl alcohol is a colorless liquid with a mild pleasant aromatic odor. It is a useful solvent due to its polarity, low toxicity, and low vapor pressure. Benzyl alcohol is partially soluble in water (4 g/100 mL) and completely miscible in alcohols and diethyl ether.
Benzyl alcohol reacts with acrylonitrile to give N-benzylacrylamide. This is an example of a Ritter reaction:[4]

C6H5CH2OH + NCCHCH2 → C6H5CH2N(H)C(O)CHCH2

for more knowledge we all should practice a lot so you should organic chemistry conversions which will help you to gain some more knowledge.

VERY good. and well written. I'm going to be watching your posts. Check out a few of mine. Thank you.