Hydroxide

Because a foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds. (Emerson) One poster mentioned acids, but that "rule" is usually for classic acids that are ionic compounds of the hydrogen cation (H+), and the rule in ionic formulas is that the cation is written first (usually; drugs are a common exception). However, water is covalent, AND there are some fields (looking at you, organic!) that list the ionizable hydrogen last as in CH3COOH for acetic acid. In many covalent compounds, the central atom is written first, hence NH3, BH3, etc. By that rule, water should be OH2, but it's seldom written that way except to emphasize that dative bonding would be through the oxygen atom (as in Na+----OH2). Relative positions in the periodic table are also arguable. Bottom line: Probably just a historic holdover from before the time that certain conventions became standardized. Heck, we're stuck with a bunch of historical oddities: electrons being negative because Ben Franklin assumed that it was the positive charge that caused electricity, oxygen being named "acid producer" despite the fact that it is NOT necessary to make an acid, the barn as a unit of nuclear area ("It's as big as a barn!"). And don't get me started on how science named a fundamental unit of quantity after a little rodent. I guess we should consider ourselves lucky that they didn't pick the weasel as the unit... ;-) More on reddit.com

alcohols are amphoteric so they can be both its more what is present alongside the alcohol. if you have a strong acid present the lone pairs of the alcohol will accept a proton and then it will eliminate off forming an alkene but when a strong enough base like sodium is present sodium will react with the alcohol forming the alcoxide and hydrogen. we are talking about C-OH not something like COOH right? cuz thats a carboxylic acid thats stabilized by resonance More on reddit.com

Now, I see that on a carboxylic acid group -COOH O=C-OH, the -OH group is now acidic and not charged anymore. -OH isn't a meaningful subgroup in -COOH carboxyl group . The lone H+ disassociates more readily than the OH- would, so it isn't considered a hydroxyl group. Also, what are the properties of an Amine Group? Is it N2H, or N3H? I sometimes see it has a positive charge, and sometimes it does not. Nitrogen preferentially forms 3 bonds due to its 5 valence electrons. The typical forms with just hydrogen are ammonia (NH3) or ammonium (NH4+ ). Amidogen (NH2) is a radical form which rarely found in isolation. I just know its polar. The typical amine group, -NH2, typically makes a covalent bond with carbon, not a polar bond. More on reddit.com

It depends on where you see it. In a drawing of a molecule it is the same just oriented differently to make it appear more organised. In a molecular formula like CH3CH2CHO and CH3CH2CH2OH there is a difference where CHO is an aldehyde and CH2OH is an alcohol. More on reddit.com