Question

What happens when (give balanced chemical equation and write the names of the reactants and products in each case):

A mixture of ethanol, ethanoic acid and concentrated sulphuric acid is heated in a water bath

Answer 1

Step 1: Introduction

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

The reaction of Ethanoic acid $\left({\mathrm{CH}}_3\mathrm{COOH}\right)$ and Ethanol $\left({\mathrm{C}}_2{\mathrm{H}}_5\mathrm{OH}\right)$ in the presence of concentrated Sulphuric acid $\left({\mathrm{H}}_2{\mathrm{SO}}_4\right)$ forms ester that is Ethyl ethanoate $\left({\mathrm{CH}}_3{\mathrm{COOC}}_2{\mathrm{H}}_5\right)$ and water.

This reaction is called the esterification reaction.

Step 2: Reaction

The chemical equation of Ethanoic acid and Ethanol is written as:

$$\begin{gathered} {\mathrm{CH}}_3\mathrm{COOH}+{\mathrm{C}}_2{\mathrm{H}}_5\mathrm{OH}\stackrel{\mathrm{conc}{\mathrm{H}}_2{\mathrm{SO}}_4}{\to }{\mathrm{CH}}_3{\mathrm{COOC}}_2{\mathrm{H}}_5 \\ \mathrm{Ethanoic}\mathrm{aicd}\mathrm{Ethanol}\mathrm{Ethylethanoate} \end{gathered}$$