Benzyl alcohol in the context of Diethyl ether

In organic chemistry, a functional group is any substituent or moiety in a molecule that causes the molecule's characteristic chemical reactions. The same functional group will undergo the same or similar chemical reactions regardless of the rest of the molecule's composition. This enables systematic prediction of chemical reactions and behavior of chemical compounds and the design of chemical synthesis. The reactivity of a functional group can be modified by other functional groups nearby. Functional group interconversion can be used in retrosynthetic analysis to plan organic synthesis.

A functional group is a group of atoms in a molecule with distinctive chemical properties, regardless of the other atoms in the molecule. The atoms in a functional group are linked to each other and to the rest of the molecule by covalent bonds. For repeating units of polymers, functional groups attach to their nonpolar core of carbon atoms and thus add chemical character to carbon chains. Functional groups can also be charged, e.g. in carboxylate salts (−COO), which turns the molecule into a polyatomic ion or a complex ion. Functional groups binding to a central atom in a coordination complex are called ligands. Complexation and solvation are also caused by specific interactions of functional groups. In the common rule of thumb "like dissolves like", it is the shared or mutually well-interacting functional groups which give rise to solubility. For example, sugar dissolves in water because both share the hydroxyl functional group (−OH) and hydroxyls interact strongly with each other. Plus, when functional groups are more electronegative than atoms they attach to, the functional groups will become polar, and the otherwise nonpolar molecules containing these functional groups become polar and so become soluble in some aqueous environment.

Benzyl acetate is an organic ester with the molecular formula CH₃C(O)OCH₂C₆H₅. It is formed by the condensation of benzyl alcohol and acetic acid.

Similar to most other esters, it possesses a sweet and pleasant aroma, owing to which, it finds applications in personal hygiene and health care products. It is a constituent of jasmin and of the essential oils of ylang-ylang and neroli. It has pleasant sweet aroma reminiscent of jasmine. Further as a flavoring agent it is also used to impart jasmine or apple flavors to various cosmetics and personal care products like lotions, hair creams etc..