Hydroxy vs Alcohol?

[Jazmin_Morales_3J]

Hello,

I was working on question 9B on the Winter 2015 final and they named the OH functional groups as hydroxy functional groups instead of alcohols? Can someone explain why this is and how we can tell the difference? Thanks!

[Emma_Green_2C]

I think you use hydroxy when you are treating the -OH group as a substituent but you would only do this when there is more than one functional group. In 9B there was also a ketone in the first structure and a carboxylic acid in the second structure.

[Sean_Yue_1E]

I think it's a hydroxl group when it's not the highest priority functional group. When it is, it's an alcohol group.