Question

Which of the following is a volatile liquid?
A: Alcohol
B: Acetone
C: Chloroform
D: All of above

Answer 1

Volatile compounds are those organic compounds which have high vapour pressure at room temperature. These compounds have low boiling point. Due to this low boiling point these compounds can easily evaporate at room temperature.

Complete step by step answer:
Alcohols are the organic compounds that contain $- OH$ functional groups. Alcohols are generally less polar than water. In a water molecule both the hydrogen atom and one oxygen atom is polar in nature while in alcohols all the hydrogen atoms that are present are not polar in nature. Due to which alcohols are less polar than water. This means forces of attraction in alcohols are less and hence alcohol can evaporate easily. So, we can consider alcohol as a volatile compound.
Acetone is a ketone. Ketones are organic compounds in which the $R - CO - {R^1}$ functional group is present. Molecular formula of acetone is ${\left( {C{H_3}} \right)_2}CO$. This compound is used for cleaning purposes in house as well as in laboratories. This compound is also known as propanol. Hydrogen bonding is possible in those compounds only which have $O - H,F - H$ or $N - H$ bonds. In acetone there is no such bonding. Therefore hydrogen bonding is not possible in this molecule but in water molecules hydrogen bonding is possible. This means water has stronger bonds as compared to acetone. So, acetone can also be considered as volatile liquid (due to weak bonds its boiling point will be low and hence it can evaporate easily).
Chloroform is an organic compound with formula $CHC{l_3}$. Chloroform is also considered as a volatile liquid. It is used as anesthesia in surgeries.

So, the correct answer is Option D .

Note:
Even if there are no $O - H,F - H$ or $N - H$ bonds in chloroform, this compound shows hydrogen bonding because in chloroform three chlorine atoms are present. Chlorine is an electronegative element due to which it generated partial negative charge on itself. Since there are three chlorine atoms, all the chlorine atoms will have partial negative charge and the carbon atom is attached to all the chlorine atoms. due to which there will be a strong positive charge on the carbon atom and that will be enough for hydrogen bonding.