Structure of the Functional Group of Alcohol

The -O-H group of an alcohol attached to an sp3-hybridised carbon has the same bent ('V'-shaped) geometry as the -O-H of water. One sp3 hybrid orbital of oxygen overlaps linearly with an sp3 hybrid orbital of the sp3-hybridised carbon to form the C-O sigma bond; another sp3 hybrid orbital of oxygen overlaps with the 1s orbital of hydrogen to form the O-H sigma bond. Oxygen's remaining two sp3 hybrid orbitals each hold a lone pair of electrons. Because lone-pair/lone-pair repulsion is stronger than lone-pair/bond-pair or bond-pair/bond-pair repulsion, the C-O-H bond angle …