OH Group Hydroxy vs. Alcohol

[Drishti_Jain_1D]

When is an OH group on an organic molecule named as a -hydroxy- and when is it named as an -ol?

A specific example of this can be seen on Winter 2015 Final Question 9B where in 1,3,4,5,6-pentahydroxy-2-hexanone hydroxy is also an -OH group.

[ntruong2H]

When is an OH group on an organic molecule named as a -hydroxy- and when is it named as an -ol?

A specific example of this can be seen on Winter 2015 Final Question 9B where in 1,3,4,5,6-pentahydroxy-2-hexanone hydroxy is also an -OH group.

Here, the -OH group was a hydroxy because the ketone got the higher priority over the alcohol. As a result, the main chain end's name was changed to -one and the -OH group was treated as another substituent. However, since we will only be tested on one functional group, the molecule (if it has an -OH group), will have the ending name of -ol