M-Xylene is an aromatic hydrocarbon, based on benzene with two methyl substituents.
It is an isomer of o-xylene and p-xylene. The m stands for meta, meaning the two methyl substituents are at locants 1 and 3 on the aromatic ring.
As is standard for resonance diagrams, a double-headed arrow is used to indicate that the two structures are not distinct entities, but merely hypothetical possibilities. Neither is an accurate representation of the actual compound, which is best represented by a hybrid (average) of these structures, which can be seen at right.
A better representation is that of the circular π bond (armstrong's inner cycle), in which the electron density is evenly distributed through a π bond above and below the ring. This model more correctly represents the location of electron density within the aromatic ring.
The single bonds are formed with electrons in line between the carbon nuclei—these are called sigma bonds. Double bonds consist of a sigma bond and a π bond. The π-bonds are formed from overlap of atomic p-orbitals above and below the plane of the ring. The following diagram shows the positions of these p-orbitals:
p-Xylene is an aromatic hydrocarbon, based on benzene with two methyl substituents. The “p” stands for para, identifying the location of the methyl groups as across from one another.
The hydroxyl group generally makes the alcohol molecule polar. Those groups can form hydrogen bonds to one another and to other compounds. This hydrogen bonding means that alcohols can be used as protic solvents.
In chemistry, an alcohol is any organic compound in which a hydroxyl group (-OH) is bound to a carbon atom of an alkyl or substituted alkyl group. The general formula for a simple acyclic alcohol is CnH2n+1OH.
William Johnson in his 1657 Lexicon Chymicum glosses the word as antimonium sive stibium. By extension, the word came to refer to any fluid obtained by distillation, including "alcohol of wine", the distilled essence of wine.
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