Final answer:
The dehydration of propan-1-ol primarily forms prop-2-ene by removing a hydroxyl group and a hydrogen from adjacent carbon atoms, usually resulting in the loss of a hydrogen from the second carbon due to the stability of the resulting carbocation.
Step-by-step explanation:
The dehydration of propan-1-ol usually leads to the formation of prop-2-ene. During the dehydration process, an OH group is removed from the propan-1-ol molecule along with a hydrogen atom from an adjacent carbon atom, resulting in the formation of an alkene and water. In the case of propan-1-ol, the hydrogen atom that is removed typically comes from the carbon atom that will form the double bond with the carbon lacking the hydroxyl group (carbocation intermediate).
Theoretically, a hydrogen could be abstracted from the third carbon; however, in practice, the stability of the carbocation intermediate usually dictates that the hydrogen is removed from the second carbon leading to the major product prop-2-ene. The dehydration of alcohols is also a way to form ether molecules, where the entire OH group of one alcohol molecule and only the hydrogen of the OH group of the second alcohol molecule are removed, with the result being the formation of an ether molecule.