Esterification Lab Introduction Esterification is an important part of organic chemistry that has many practical applications. Esterification can be used to make polymers. In most cases, esters are used tor scents – they often smell fruity and sweet. In general, an esterification reaction results from a condensation reaction between a carboxylic acid and an alcohol, The carboxylic acid group loses an OH group, and the alcohol loses and H, For instance, the reaction between methanoic acid and methanol is shown below COOH+CH 3 OH CHOOCH 3+H 2 0
Purpose The purpose of this investigation is to verify the smell of esters Method Place 250 mL of deionized water in a 500 mL. Heat this water until it boils. Turn off the heat source after boiling Follow the chart below for the following steps Ester # Acid Alcohol 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Acetic Acid Butanol Acetic Acid Octanol Acetic Acid Methanol Acetic Acid Ethanol Butanoic acid Butanol Butanoic acid Octanol Butanolc acid Methanol Butanoic acid Ethanol Place tens drops of the acid in your test tube. Add 10 drops of the required alcohol to the test tube.
Refer to the chart to check what combination of acids and alcohols you should use Add 2 drops of concentrated sulfuric acid (this Increases the yleld) Place the test tube into the boiling water so the level of the alcohol-acid solution is below the level of the water. Allow the test tube to remain In the hot water bat for 15 minutes After 15 minutes, smell the solution and record the smell. Pour the solution down the drain and rinse the test tube with tap water to remove odor. Repeat the above tOf2 After this, clean up all materials and wash your hands.
Data Ester # Acid Alcohol Ester name Smell Acetic acid Butanol Butyl ethanoate Banana/pear Acetic acid Octanol Octyl ethanoate Orange citrus Acetic acid Methanol Methyl ethanoate Nail polish remover Acetic acid Ethanol Ethyl ethanoate Sweet, fruity Butanoic acid Butanol Butyl butanoate Pineapple or banana Butanoic acid Octanol Octyl butanoate Flowery, earthy Butanoic acid Methanol Methyl butanoatepineapples Butanoic acid Ethanol Ethyl butanoate Sweet, fruity Analysis The experiment was successful in that the smells of esters were obtained.
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Most of the esters smelled nice or fruity, with the exception of methyl ethanoate, which melled like nail polish remover. This could be a result of errors in the experiment. 2. In order to optimize the ester yield, one could increase the concentrations of the various acids and alcohols used to generate the esters. One could also increase the concentration of sulfuric acid, although this may end up damaging the reaction. 3. One could add water to dilute the ester. The addition of water would induce the reaction to undergo hydrolysis 4. Use distillation 5. Butanoic Acid + Butanol C 3 H 8 COOH+C 4 H 90H-*C 3 H 7 COOC 4 H 9+H 20
