Filed under: The More You Know! *ding*
Questioner: Allen
Category: Chemistry (including Biochemistry)
Private: No
Subject: Alcohol production
Question: Hi Trista,
I was wondering if all most alcohols are produced by biological mechanisms (yeast breaking down sugars) or are there synthetically produced alcohols as well?
Thanks,
Allen
Answer: Chemically speaking, an alcohol is an -OH group attached to something; typically some number of carbons. Ethanol or ethyl alcohol is the alcohol we can metabolize, and its formula is CH3CH2OH. Yeast make it as an alternate fuel when there's not a lot of oxygen around in a metabolic process known as fermentation.
Most of the ethyl alcohol we consume is indeed made by yeast or other microorganisms - they're good at it and they work for cheap. However, a chemist could create ethyl alcohol in the lab and isolate it, and it would be 'safe' to consume. In small amounts, that is. 100% ethanol is a lot for the human body to metabolize, and given the large percentage in a small volume it's possible to do yourself a mischief and end up in the hospital. But your body wouldn't know the difference between yeast-created and lab-created ethanol.
Now, there are all sorts of other alcohol structures out there in the world, both synthetically made as well as made by yeast or other microorganisms. 'wood alcohol' (methanol, CH3OH) and 'rubbing alcohol' (isopropyl alcohol, or CH3CH(OH)CH3) are both examples you may encounter in everyday life. Don't drink them, whatever their provenance.
Why? The enzyme we have in our livers that metabolizes ethyl alcohol is called Liver Alcohol Dehydrogenase, and it basically converts ethanol to vinegar. (CH3COOH) The vinegar then goes on to be used to build fatty acids in your body, and all's well. However, liver alcohol dehydrogenase can also convert other alcohols to acids, and our bodies don't know what to do with those other funny shapes. These acids accumulate in your system and eventually build up to toxic levels. So don't drink other alcohols that aren't ethyl alcohol. They're poisonous.
Cheers!