Question

Give the mechanism involved in the esterification of a carboxylic acid with alcohol.

Answer 1

(i) Carboxylic acid reacts with alcohols in presence of mineral acid as catalyst and forms esters. This reaction is called estirification
$\underset{Aceticacid}{{CH}_{3}COOH}+\underset{Ethanol}{C_2{H}_{5}OH}\underset{}{\overset{H^{+}}{\to }}\underset{Ethylacetate}{{CH}_{3}COO{C}_2{H}_5}+H_{2}O$
(ii) Mechanism of esterification: Protonation of the $-OH$ group of the acid, enhances the nucleophilic attack by alcohol to give the ester
Step 1: Protonation of carboxylic acid.
Step 2: Attack by nucleophile