Question

Esters on catalytic hydrogenation always give a mixture of

• A. Acid and alcohol
• B. two alcohols
• C. two acids
• D. Aldehyde and alcohol

Answer 1

The correct option is B two alcohols

Esters $\left(RCOO{R}^{\prime }\right)$ give a mixture of two alcohols depending upon the acyl group $(RCO–)$ and the alkoxy group $(-O{R}^{\prime })$. Methyl acetate $\left(C{H}_{3}COOC{H}_3\right)$ gives a mixture of methanol and ethanol, whereas ethyl acetate $\left(C{H}_{3}COOC{H}_{2}C{H}_3\right)$ gives only ethanol.