What chemical test can differentiate secondary and tertiary alcohols? I have to perform a chemical test to determine whether the solution is a secondary or a tertiary alcohol. How can I do this? Please explain the procedure and the apparatus.
Or you can try the very simple Lucas' test using zinc chloride and concentrated hydrochloric acid:
$$\ce{ROH + HCl -&gt; RCl + H2O}$$

It works best with tertiary alkohols, slow with secondary alcohols and not at all with primary alcohols.