Alcohols like ethanol ch3ch2oh, have a proton attached to the oxygen atom that can be acidic. can a base like ch3nh2 deprotonate the -oh group? (pka ch3ch2oh=15.7 pka ch3nh3=10.8) justify your answer

No. CH₃NH₂ cannot deprotonate CH₃CH₂OH.

Explanation:

Organic species like ethanol and methylamine can behave as acid or bases. The pKa value is necessary to indentify in a reaction if the species can act as an acid or a base.

In this case, despite alcohols being recognised as acids and amines as bases, the amine  CH₃NH₂ has an smaller pKa than the alcohol CH₃CH₂OH , which means that  CH₃NH₂  is a stronger acid than  CH₃CH₂OH . Therefore, CH₃NH₂ will not deprotonate the -OH group.