Question

Question 51
Esters are sweet smelling substance and are used in making perfumes. Suggest some activity and the reaction involved in the preparation of an ester with a well-labelled diagram.

Answer 1

• Take 1 ml ethanol and 1 ml of glacial acetic acid along with few drops of concentrated sulphuric acid in a test tube.
• Warm in water- bath at about ${60}^{\circ }\text{C}$ for at least 15 minutes as shown.
• Pour into a beaker containing 20- 50 ml of water and smell the resulting mixture.

The reaction involved is:

${\text{CH}}_3\text{COOH}+{\text{CH}}_3{\text{CH}}_2\text{OH}\stackrel{\text{Conc}.{\text{H}}_2{\text{SO}}_4}{⟶}{\text{CH}}_3{\text{CH}}_2{\text{COOCH}}_2{\text{CH}}_3+{\text{H}}_2\text{O}$