dihydroxybenzene
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In organic chemistry, dihydroxybenzenes (benzenediols) are organic compounds in which two hydroxyl groups () are substituted onto a benzene ring (). These aromatic compounds are classed as phenols. There are three structural isomers: 1,2-dihydroxybenzene (the ortho isomer) is commonly known as catechol, 1,3-dihydroxybenzene (the meta isomer) is commonly known as resorcinol, and 1,4-dihydroxybenzene (the para isomer) is commonly known as hydroquinone. {| class="wikitable" |- !Isomer !ortho !meta !para |- |Trivial name |Catechol |Resorcinol |Hydroquinone |- |IUPAC name |benzene-1,2-diol |benzene
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In organic chemistry, dihydroxybenzenes (benzenediols) are organic compounds in which two hydroxyl groups () are substituted onto a benzene ring (). These aromatic compounds are classed as phenols. There are three structural isomers: 1,2-dihydroxybenzene (the ortho isomer) is commonly known as catechol, 1,3-dihydroxybenzene (the meta isomer) is commonly known as resorcinol, and 1,4-dihydroxybenzene (the para isomer) is commonly known as hydroquinone. {| class="wikitable" |- !Isomer !ortho !meta !para |- |Trivial name |Catechol |Resorcinol |Hydroquinone |- |IUPAC name |benzene-1,2-diol |benzene-1,3-diol |benzene-1,4-diol |- |Other names |pyrocatechol1,2-dihydroxybenzeneo-dihydroxybenzeneo-benzenediol |resorcin1,3-dihydroxybenzenem-dihydroxybenzenem-benzenediol |1,4-dihydroxybenzenep-dihydroxybenzenep-benzenediol |- |Structure |align="center"|90px |align="center"|90px |align="center"|45px |}
All three of these compounds are colorless to white granular solids at room temperature and pressure, but upon exposure to oxygen they may darken. All three isomers have the chemical formula .
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “dihydroxybenzene” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.