Question

How would you write the equation for the esterification reaction for acetic acid and ethyl alcohol to form ethyl acetate?

Answer 1

`"Acetic acid + ethyl alcohol"rarr"Ethyl acetate + water...."`

Explanation:

Or in symbols....

`"H"_3"CC(=O)OH + HOCH"_2"CH"_3 stackrel(Delta, "H"^+)rarr`

`"H"_3"CC(=O)OCH"_2"CH"_3 +"H"_2"O"`

Alternatively, the acid may be heated at reflux to give the acid halide...

`"H"_3"CC(=O)OH + SOCl"_2 rarr"H"_3"CC(=O)Cl+HCl(g)"uarr+"SO"_2uarr`

And the acid halide is treated with the alcohol or amine, in the presence of ONE equiv of non-nucleophilic base...

`"R'C(=O)Cl +HOR" stackrel("Et"_3"N")rarr"R'C(=O)OR" "+Et"_3"N"*"HCl"darr`