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A hydroxyl is a chemical group made up of one oxygen atom and one hydrogen atom bonded together, and it's important because it appears in many common substances like water and alcohol, affecting how those substances behave and react with other chemicals.
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Representation of an organic compound hydroxy group, where R represents a hydrocarbon or other organic moiety, the red and grey spheres represent oxygen and hydrogen atoms respectively, and the rod-like connections between these, covalent bonds.
In chemistry, a hydroxy or hydroxyl group is a functional group with the chemical formula −OH and composed of one oxygen atom covalently bonded]] to one hydrogen atom. In organic chemistry, alcohols and carboxylic acids contain one or more hydroxy groups. Both the negatively charged anion HO, called hydroxide, and the neutral radical HO·, known as the hydroxyl radical, consist of an unbonded hydroxy group.