Structure and Properties

You must have been exposed to the nature of alcohols in 1st-semester organic chemistry.

Alcohols and phenols have an electronegative oxygen bonded to a H atom (i.e. hydroxyl group).   As a result, its reactivity is consistent with it behaving like an acid or a base.  Alcohols are somewhat acidic having a pKa=16.  Phenol on the other hand is much more acidic as phenol has a pKa=10 (i.e. about 10⁶ times more acidic).

In alcohols, but not phenols, the -OH can also be "activated" wherein it is converted to a better leaving group.  This results in substitution and elimination reactions.

Alcohols have rather high boiling points in comparison to similar compounds because of their ability to hydrogen bond.