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How does attaching a hydroxyl group to an alkane produce an alcohol?

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structural formulas of some organic compounds — organic compound The structures of organic compounds can be depicted in condensed, expanded, and three-dimensional structural formulas.

An alcohol is produced when one or more hydroxyl groups (―OH) are attached to a carbon atom of an alkyl group, which is derived from an alkane hydrocarbon chain.12

In organic chemistry, alkanes consist of carbon and hydrogen atoms connected by strong, nonpolar bonds, making them relatively unreactive. By attaching a hydroxyl group—a functional group consisting of an oxygen atom bonded to a hydrogen atom—the molecule gains a reactive site. Because oxygen is more electronegative than carbon, the carbon-oxygen bond becomes polar, creating a region of increased electron density that confers specific chemical properties and reactivity patterns characteristic of alcohols.31

Under the IUPAC nomenclature system, this transformation is reflected by taking the name of the parent alkane, dropping the final "-e," and adding the suffix "-ol" to indicate the presence of the hydroxyl group.4