Question

Name the carboxylic acid with which ethanol reacts in the presence of concentrated sulphuric acid to give a sweet-smelling product.

Answer 1

Step 1:

In a chemical reaction, the reagent reacts with a reactant molecule to produce an intermediate which is converted into final products.

The reaction of Ethanol $\left({\mathrm{C}}_2{\mathrm{H}}_5\mathrm{OH}\right)$ with Ethanoic acid $\left({\mathrm{CH}}_3\mathrm{COOH}\right)$ in the presence of concentrated Sulphuric acid $\left({\mathrm{H}}_2{\mathrm{SO}}_4\right)$ forms the Ethyl acetate $\left({\mathrm{CH}}_3{\mathrm{COOC}}_2{\mathrm{H}}_5\right)$ and Water as products.

The Ethyl acetate product is a sweet-smelling product.

Step 2:

The chemical equation of the reaction is written as:

$$\begin{gathered} {\mathrm{CH}}_3\mathrm{COOH}\left(\mathrm{l}\right)+{\mathrm{CH}}_3{\mathrm{CH}}_2\mathrm{OH}\left(\mathrm{l}\right)\stackrel{\mathrm{conc}.{\mathrm{H}}_2{\mathrm{SO}}_4}{\to }{\mathrm{CH}}_3{\mathrm{COOC}}_2{\mathrm{H}}_5\left(\mathrm{l}\right)+{\mathrm{H}}_2\mathrm{O}\left(\mathrm{l}\right) \\ (\mathrm{Ethanoic}(\mathrm{Ethanol})(\mathrm{Ethyl}\mathrm{acetate})(\mathrm{Water}) \\ \mathrm{acid}) \end{gathered}$$

Therefore, the Ethanoic acid reacts with Ethanol in the presence of concentrated Sulphuric acid to give a sweet-smelling ester product.